Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Clematis crispa

Clematis viticaulis

blue-jasmine, curly clematis, curly virginsbower, marsh clematis, swamp leather flower

grape clematis, grape leather-flower, Millboro leather-flower
Stems

viny, to 3 m, glabrous or sparsely to moderately pilose-pubescent, denser at nodes.

erect, 2-5 dm, finely and densely hirtellous.
Leaves

blade 1-2-pinnate or rarely a few simple or 3-foliolate;

leaflets 4-10 plus additional ± tendril-like terminal leaflet, usually lanceolate to ovate, occasionally linear, unlobed or proximally 3-5-lobed, (1.5-)3-10 × (0.1-)0.4-4(-5) cm, thin, not conspicuously reticulate;

surfaces glabrous, not glaucous.

blade elliptic-lanceolate to narrowly ovate, unlobed, (2-)4-8 × 1.5-3.5(-4.5) cm, thin, not conspicuously reticulate;

surfaces abaxially sparsely (rarely more densely) villous on veins, not glaucous.
Inflorescences

terminal, 1-flowered;

bracts absent.

terminal, flowers solitary;

bracts absent.
Flowers

bell-shaped;

sepals distally strongly spreading to recurved, violet-blue, lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm, margins proximally thick and tomentose, distally broadly expanded, 2-6 mm wide, thin, crispate, less conspicuously tomentose than proximal portion, or glabrate, tips acuminate, abaxially glabrous.

urn-shaped;

sepals pale purple, often suffused with green abaxially, lanceolate, 1.4-2.5 cm, margins not expanded, thin, not crispate, puberulent, tips obtuse to acute, spreading to recurved, abaxially nearly glabrous to minutely puberulent.
Achenes

bodies appressed-puberulent;

beak 2-3.5 cm, appressed-puberulent.

bodies short-pilose;

beak coppery brown, 2-3.5(-4) cm, plumose.
2n

= 16.

= 16.

Clematis crispa

Clematis viticaulis
Phenology Flowering spring–summer. Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Low woods, bottomlands, swamps Shale barrens
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 400-500 m (1300-1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
VA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clematis crispa is highly variable in leaflet width, and conspicuous variation may occur on a single plant (R.O. Erickson 1943); no discontinuity or geographic correlation exists that would permit the recognition of varieties. The dilated, petaloid sepal tips and thin, crispate, broadly expanded sepal margins are diagnostic for this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Clematis viticaulis is known only from shale barrens developed from the Upper Devonian Brallier Formation in Bath and Rockbridge counties of western Virginia.

The coppery brown hairs on the mature beaks are useful for distinguishing this species (C. S. Keener 1967).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viorna Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viorna
Sibling taxa
C. addisonii, C. albicoma, C. baldwinii, C. bigelovii, C. catesbyana, C. coactilis, C. columbiana, C. drummondii, C. fremontii, C. glaucophylla, C. hirsutissima, C. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. morefieldii, C. occidentalis, C. ochroleuca, C. orientalis, C. pauciflora, C. pitcheri, C. recta, C. reticulata, C. socialis, C. tangutica, C. terniflora, C. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, C. vitalba, C. viticaulis, C. viticella
C. addisonii, C. albicoma, C. baldwinii, C. bigelovii, C. catesbyana, C. coactilis, C. columbiana, C. crispa, C. drummondii, C. fremontii, C. glaucophylla, C. hirsutissima, C. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. morefieldii, C. occidentalis, C. ochroleuca, C. orientalis, C. pauciflora, C. pitcheri, C. recta, C. reticulata, C. socialis, C. tangutica, C. terniflora, C. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, C. vitalba, C. viticella
Synonyms Viorna crispa, Viorna obliqua
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 543. (1753) Steele: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 13: 364. (1911)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers