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chaparral clematis, pipestem, pipestem clematis

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.

Leaf

blade 1-2-pinnate;

leaflets lobed or unlobed, margins entire or toothed.

Inflorescences

axillary, flowers solitary, rarely 3-flowered cymes.

terminal and/or axillary on current year's stems, cymes or panicles or flowers solitary or paired, bracteate.

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.

bisexual, or unisexual with staminate and pistillate on different plants, not nodding, or ± nodding in yellow-flowered species;

perianth rotate;

sepals spreading, not connivent, linear, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, oblanceolate, or obovate, thin and white or somewhat thickened and yellow;

filaments filiform, slender, glabrous or pubescent;

staminodes absent from staminate flowers, usually present in pistillate flowers;

pistils rudimentary or absent in staminate flowers.

Achenes

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

beak 3.5-5.5 cm.

flattened or nearly terete;

beak more than 1.5 cm, plumose.

Woody

vines (erect, herbaceous perennials in C. recta).

2n

= 16.

Clematis lasiantha

Clematis subg. Clematis

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]
Worldwide
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.)

Species 50-100 (11 in the flora).

The Asian (Korean) species Clematis serratifolia Rehder, with light yellow sepals and purple stamens, may also escape from cultivation and spread locally.

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

Key
1. Sepals greenish yellow to bright yellow, ascending or wide-spreading and recurved.
→ 2
1. Sepals white to cream, wide-spreading, not recurved.
→ 3
2. Leaflet margins entire or coarsely few-toothed; sepals greenish yellow, pubescent or abaxially glabrous.
C. orientalis
2. Leaflet margins serrate; sepals bright yellow, adaxially glabrous.
C. tangutica var. tangutica
3. Flowers bisexual.
→ 4
3. Flowers unisexual.
→ 6
4. Stems herbaceous, not viny.
C. recta
4. Stems ±woody, climbing with tendril-like petioles and rachises of compound leaves.
→ 5
5. Pistils 10 or fewer per flower; achenes flattened, with conspicuous rims.
C. terniflora
5. Pistils 20 or more per flower; achenes nearly terete, without conspicuous rims.
C. vitalba
6. Leaflets deltate to ovate, strongly 3-parted to 3-sect, segments ovate, deltate, or linear; achene with beak 4–9 cm; sw United States, Mexico.
C. drummondii
6. Leaflets ovate to lanceolate, variously lobed or toothed, but without narrow segments; achene with beak to 5.5 cm.
→ 7
7. Flowers solitary (rarely 3 in simple cymes); pedicel (or peduncle and pedicel combined for solitary flowers) stout, 3.5 cm or more; pistils 75–100 per flower.
C. lasiantha
7. Flowers (1–)3 or more, in simple or compound cymes or in panicles, occasionally solitary in C.pauciflora; pedicel slender, less than 3.5 cm; pistils fewer than 70 per flower.
→ 8
8. Achene body broadly ovate to nearly orbiculate, glabrous; sepals hairy only abaxially; leaflets to 3.5 cm.
C. pauciflora
8. Achene body ovate, pubescent; sepals hairy on both surfaces; leaflets usually longer than 3 cm.
→ 9
9. Leaf blade 3-foliolate.
C. virginiana
9. Leaf blade pinnately 5-foliolate to 2-pinnate.
→ 10
10. Inflorescences compound cymes, often distinctly corymbiform, flowers crowded; pistils 25–65 per flower; leaf blade somewhat succulent, ultimate venation obscure; w North America.
C. ligusticifolia
10. Inflorescences panicles, not usually corymbiform or with flowers crowded; pistils 18–35 per flower; leaf blade membranous, ultimate venation conspicuous; primarily e North America.
C. catesbyana
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Clematis Ranunculaceae > Clematis
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
Subordinate taxa
C. catesbyana, C. drummondii, C. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. orientalis, C. pauciflora, C. recta, C. tangutica var. tangutica, C. terniflora, C. virginiana, C. vitalba
Name authority Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 9. (1838) Linnaeus
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