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chaparral clematis, pipestem, pipestem clematis

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

Stems

scrambling to climbing, 3-4 m. Leaf blade 3-foliolate;

leaflets ovate, largest leaflets usually 3-lobed, 1.5-6 × 1.5-5 cm;

terminal leaflet occasionally 3-cleft, margins usually toothed;

surfaces glabrous or sparsely silky.

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

Leaf

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.

Inflorescences

axillary, flowers solitary, rarely 3-flowered cymes.

terminal, flowers solitary.

Flowers

unisexual;

pedicel (including peduncle) stout, 3.5-11 cm;

sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white to cream, ovate or elliptic to obovate or oblanceolate, 10-21 mm, abaxially and adaxially pilose;

stamens 50-100;

filaments glabrous;

staminodes absent or 50-100;

pistils 75-100.

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.

Achenes

asymmetric-ovate, not broadly orbiculate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, not conspicuously rimmed, glabrous;

beak 3.5-5.5 cm.

bodies densely long-pubescent;

beak 4-9 cm, plumose.

2n

= 16.

Clematis lasiantha

Clematis hirsutissima

Phenology Flowering winter–spring (Jan–Jun).
Habitat Chaparral, open woodlands
Elevation 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; OK; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clematis lasiantha is common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada of California.

The Shasta used pounded stems or chewed or burned roots of Clematis lasiantha medicinally in the treatment of colds (D. E. Moerman 1986).

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

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.)

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. Clematis 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. hirsutissima, 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. 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 Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 9. (1838) Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 385. (1814)
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