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chaparral clematis, pipestem, pipestem clematis

Alabama leather-flower

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, 0.2-0.3(-0.5) m, glabrous or slightly pubescent, arising from horizontal, branching rhizomes and forming patches.

Leaves

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

axillary, flowers solitary, rarely 3-flowered cymes.

terminal, flowers solitary;

bracts absent.

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.

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

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

beak 3.5-5.5 cm.

bodies appressed-puberulent;

beak 1.5-2.5 cm, appressed-puberulent.

2n

= 16.

Clematis lasiantha

Clematis socialis

Phenology Flowering winter–spring (Jan–Jun). Flowering spring–fall.
Habitat Chaparral, open woodlands Openings in wet bottomland woods
Elevation 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft) 200 m (700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL
[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.)

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. 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. 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
Name authority Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 9. (1838) Kral: Rhodora 84: 287. (1982)
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