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Barbas de chivato, Drummond's clematis, old man's beard

Alabama leather-flower

Stems

scrambling to climbing with tendril-like petioles and leaf-rachises, 4-5 m or more.

erect, not viny, 0.2-0.3(-0.5) m, glabrous or slightly pubescent, arising from horizontal, branching rhizomes and forming patches.

Leaves

blade odd-pinnate, usually 5-foliolate;

leaflets deltate to ovate, strongly 3-parted to 3-cleft, proximal leaflets sometimes 3-cleft, 1.5-5.5 × 0.5-4.5 cm, membranous to leathery;

segments ovate, deltate, or linear, margins dentate;

surfaces pilose, abaxially more densely so.

proximal simple, blades unlobed or 2-3-lobed, distal blades 1-pinnate;

leaflets and unlobed blades linear-elliptic to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, (3-)4-12(-15) × (0.3-)0.5-1(-1.5) cm, thin, not prominently reticulate;

surfaces abaxially nearly glabrous to sparsely villous on veins, not glaucous.

Inflorescences

usually axillary, 3-12-flowered simple cymes or compound with central axis or flowers solitary or paired.

terminal, flowers solitary;

bracts absent.

Flowers

unisexual;

pedicel slender, (1.1-)1.5-7 cm;

sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white to cream, oblong or elliptic to obovate or oblanceolate, (7-)9-13(-15) mm, abaxially and adaxially pubescent;

stamens 40-90;

filments glabrous;

staminodes 17-35 when present;

pistils 35-90.

narrowly urn-shaped;

sepals uniformly violet-blue, oblong-lanceolate, 2-2.5(-3) cm, margins narrowly expanded distally to about 1 mm wide, thin, crispate, proximally tomentose, tips spreading to recurved, acute to acuminate, abaxially sparsely puberulent.

Achenes

elliptic to ovate, 3-5 × l.5-2.5 mm, rimmed, short-silky;

beak 4-9 cm.

bodies appressed-puberulent;

beak 1.5-2.5 cm, appressed-puberulent.

Clematis drummondii

Clematis socialis

Phenology Flowering spring–fall (Mar–Oct). Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Chaparral, xeric scrub, oak scrub, and grasslands, pastures, fencerows, and other secondary sites, often along streams or on slopes Openings in wet bottomland woods
Elevation 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) 200 m (700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; NM; OK; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

As with many other members of the subgenus, the leaves of Clematis drummondii are reputedly used in a poultice to treat irritations of the skin in humans and other animals.

Clematis coahuilensis D. J. Keil is found in central and north-central Mexico in habitats similar to those of C. drummondii; it is distinguished by ovate, entire to 3-lobed, leathery leaflets.

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

Of conservation concern.

Clematis socialis, the only species of Clematis subg. Viorna in the flora with horizontal, patch-forming rhizomes, is known only from three small populations in St. Clair and Cherokee counties south of Ashville, in northeastern Alabama.

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

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Clematis Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viorna
Sibling taxa
C. addisonii, C. albicoma, C. baldwinii, C. bigelovii, C. catesbyana, C. coactilis, C. columbiana, C. crispa, 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. tangutica, C. terniflora, C. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, C. vitalba, C. viticaulis, C. viticella
Synonyms C. nervata
Name authority Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 7. (1838) Kral: Rhodora 84: 287. (1982)
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