Clematis lasiantha
Clematis ligusticifolia
chaparral clematis, pipestem, pipestem clematis
creek clematis, hierba de chivo, old man's beard, pipestems, virgin's-bower, western clematis, western virgin's bower, western white clematis, white clematis, white virgin's-bower, wireweed
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.
clambering or climbing, to 6(-20) m. Leaf blade pinnately 5-foliolate or 2-pinnate and 9-15-foliolate, somewhat succulent;
leaflets lanceolate to broadly ovate, lobed or unlobed, (1-)3-9 × 0.9-7.2 cm, margins entire or variously toothed;
surfaces abaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose or silky, especially on veins; ultimate venation obscure.
axillary, flowers solitary, rarely 3-flowered cymes.
axillary, usually 7-20(-65)-flowered compound cymes, often distinctly corymbiform, flowers crowded.
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.
unisexual;
pedicel slender, 0.5-3 cm;
sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white to cream, obovate to oblanceolate, 6-10 mm, abaxially and adaxially pilose;
stamens 25-50;
staminodes absent or fewer than stamens;
pistils 25-65.
asymmetric-ovate, not broadly orbiculate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, not conspicuously rimmed, glabrous;
beak 3.5-5.5 cm.
elliptic, 3-3.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, prominently rimmed, silky;
beak 3-3.5 cm.
= 16.
= 16.
Clematis lasiantha
Clematis ligusticifolia
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.)
Clematis ligusticifolia is the common virgin's-bower in the western United States and Canada. In California it might hybridize with C. lasiantha. In Mexico it is found only in the extreme north; it is probably related to the Mexican and Central American species, C.grossa Bentham.
The name Clematis neomexicana has been applied to the populations with crenate leaflets in New Mexico and northern Chihuahua. This distinction is tenuous, however, given the wide variation present in leaflet margins within this and other species in Clematis subg. Clematis.
Two varieties of Clematis ligusticifolia have been weakly distinguished based on the presence or absence of 2-pinnate leaves.
Infusions prepared from the plants of Clematis ligusticifolia were used medicinally by Native Americans as a wash for skin eruptions, a lotion for backaches or swollen limbs, and a lotion to protect one against witches; stems and leaves were chewed to treat colds and sore throats; decoctions of leaves were also used as a wash and for stomachaches and cramps; and lathers of leaves were used to treat boils on humans and on animals (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
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Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database
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