Flora of North America species comparison

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Clematis occidentalis

Clematis baldwinii

blue clematis, clématite occidentale, Columbia bower, Columbia clematis, Columbia virgin's bower, purple clematis, purple virgin's-bower, rock clematis, western blue clematis, western blue virginsbower, western clematis

pine-hyacinth, pine-woods clematis
Stems

viny, climbing or trailing (plants scarcely viny perennials in var. dissecta).

erect, 2-6 dm, nearly glabrous to moderately pilose.
Leaves

blade 1-ternate (or terminal leaflet sometimes ternate in var. dissecta), ± firm but not succulent;

leaflets lance-ovate to triangular or suborbiculate, lobed or unlobed, margins entire or toothed.

blade unlobed or 2-3-lobed, occasionally divided into 3-5 leaflets;

leaflet blades or lobes linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, or unlobed leaf blades elliptic to ovate, 1.5-10 × 0.2-2.5(-3.5) cm, thin, not prominently reticulate;

surfaces glabrous, not glaucous.
Inflorescences

terminal, flowers solitary;

bracts absent or sometimes distal pair of leaves smaller, bractlike.
Flowers

sepals violet-blue, reddish violet, or white, lanceolate to ovate or elliptic-oblong.

narrowly bell-shaped;

sepals uniformly violet-blue, oblong-lanceolate, 2-5.5 cm, margins narrowly expanded distally to ca. 1 mm wide, thin, crispate, proximally tomentose, glabrous where expanded, distally ± tomentose, tips acuminate, spreading to recurved, abaxially glabrous.
Achenes

bodies long-pubescent;

beak 6-10 cm, plumose.
2n

= 16.

Clematis occidentalis

Clematis baldwinii
Phenology Flowering all year.
Habitat Sandy, flat pine woods
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; CT; DE; IA; ID; IL; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MT; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OR; PA; RI; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; NB; ON; QC; SK; YT
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from FNA
FL
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Discussion

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).

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

The long peduncles (10-30 cm) elevating the flowers well above the leaves are unique to Clematis baldwinii among the simple-leaved species of Clematis subg. Viorna in the flora. Broad-leaved, large-flowered plants have been segregated as C. baldwinii var. latiuscula, but many intermediates connect the extremes, and flower size is not well correlated with leaf shape. As noted by C. S. Keener (1975), leaf shape appears to be uncorrelated with distribution; collections from a single population often include broad- and narrow-leaved plants.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaflets lobed or unlobed, margins entire or crenate-serrate (or terminal leaflet sometimes ternate); stems tufted or, if viny, up to 0.5(–1.5) m.
var. dissecta
1. Leaflets unlobed or some 1–3-lobed, margins entire or shallowly serrate; stems ± viny, climbing or trailing, 0.25–3.5 m.
→ 2
2. Sepals reddish violet, rounded-mucronate to nearly acuminate.
var. occidentalis
2. Sepals violet-blue to pale blue, rarely white, usually distinctly acuminate.
var. grosseserrata
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Atragene 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. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. morefieldii, 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. 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. occidentalis var. dissecta, C. occidentalis var. grosseserrata, C. occidentalis var. occidentalis
Synonyms Atragene occidentalis C. baldwinii var. latiuscula, Viorna baldwinii
Name authority (Hornemann) de Candolle: Prodr. 1: 10. (1824) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 8. (1838)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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