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Douglas' clematis, hairy clematis, leatherflower, sugar bowls, vaseflower

erect mountain clematis, white-hair leather-flower

Stems

erect, not viny, 1.5-6.5 dm, hirsute (sometimes sparsely so in var. hirsutissima) or densely short, soft-pubescent to nearly glabrous.

erect, not viny, 2-4(-6) dm, pubescent or pilose to ± tomentose or hirsute.

Leaves

blade 2-3-pinnate;

leaflets often deeply 2-several-lobed, if lobed than lateral lobes usually small and distinctly narrower than central portion, leaflets or lobes linear to lanceolate, 1-6 × 0.05-1.5 cm, thin, not prominently reticulate;

surfaces sparsely to densely silky-hirsute, not glaucous.

blade elliptic-lanceolate to ovate, unlobed, 3.5-8(-10) × 1.5-5(-6.5) cm, thin, not conspicuously reticulate;

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

Inflorescences

terminal, flowers solitary.

terminal, flowers solitary;

bracts absent.

Flowers

broadly cylindric to urn-shaped;

sepals very dark violet-blue or rarely pink or white, oblong-lanceolate, 2.5-4.5 cm, margins narrowly expanded distally, 0.5-2 mm wide, thin, distally ± crisped, tomentose, tips obtuse to acute, slightly spreading, abaxially usually densely hirsute, occasionally moderately so.

narrowly urn-shaped;

sepals purplish, yellowish toward tips, oblong-lanceolate, (1.1-)1.4-3 cm, margins not expanded or less than 1 mm wide, thin, not crispate, tomentose, tips obtuse, spreading to recurved, abaxially silky- to woolly-pubescent.

Achenes

bodies densely long-pubescent;

beak 4-9 cm, plumose.

bodies pilose;

beak white to pale yellow, (1.5-)2-4(-4.5) cm, plumose.

2n

= 16.

Clematis hirsutissima

Clematis albicoma

Phenology Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Shale barrens
Elevation 300-800 m (1000-2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; OK; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
VA; WV
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

The varieties of Clematis hirsutissima, although highly dissimilar in their extreme forms, intergrade extensively in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.

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

Clematis albicoma is known only from shale barrens predominantly developed from the Upper Devonian Brallier Formation in nine counties of western Virginia and adjacent West Virginia.

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

Key
1. Leaflets and lobes linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.5–6(–10) mm wide.
var. hirsutissima
1. Leaflets and lobes narrowly to broadly lanceolate or ovate, 5–15 mm wide.
var. scottii
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. crispa, C. drummondii, C. fremontii, C. glaucophylla, 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. 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. viticaulis, C. viticella
Subordinate taxa
C. hirsutissima var. hirsutissima, C. hirsutissima var. scottii
Synonyms Coriflora hirsutissima
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 385. (1814) Wherry: J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 21: 198. (1931)
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