Clematis occidentalis
Clematis bigelovii
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
Bigelow's clematis, Bigelow's leather flower
viny, climbing or trailing (plants scarcely viny perennials in var. dissecta).
erect or sprawling, 0.1-0.6 m, short pubescent-pilose, sometimes sparsely so.
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 1-2(-3)-pinnate;
primary leaflets 7-11, mostly deeply 2-several-lobed, leaflets and larger lobes mostly ovate, 0.8-3.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm (lateral lobes nearly as wide as central portion), thin, not prominently reticulate;
surfaces glabrous, somewhat glaucous.
terminal, 1-flowered.
sepals violet-blue, reddish violet, or white, lanceolate to ovate or elliptic-oblong.
broadly urn- to bell-shaped;
sepals purple, lanceolate, 1.5-3 cm, margins narrowly expanded distally to ca. 1 mm wide, thin, crispate, tomentose, tips acuminate, spreading, abaxially sparsely pubescent.
bodies appressed-long-pubescent;
beak 2-3 cm, glabrous or inconspicuously appressed-pubescent, sparsely so toward tip.
Clematis occidentalis
Clematis bigelovii
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Clematis bigelovii is locally common and is restricted to New Mexico and a few sites in Arizona. Although usually grouped with C. hirsutissima because of its scarcely viny habit, this species appears to represent the extreme expression of clinal variation including C. pitcheri var. dictyota and, at the other extreme, eastern populations of C. pitcheri var. pitcheri; it might well be treated as C. pitcheri var. bigelovii (Torrey) B.L. Robinson.
Clematis palmeri Rose is represented by a small number of specimens from New Mexico and one from eastern Arizona, and its distinctness as a species has been questioned. The few published descriptions scarcely suffice to indicate its distinguishing features and are sometimes at variance with each other and with specimens so identified by R.O. Erickson (1943) or others. Almost all specimens were found where C. bigelovii was reported nearby. Pending further studies, it seems likely that C. palmeri comprises somewhat aberrant specimens of C. bigelovii, C. hirsutissima var. scottii, and/or C. pitcheri var. dictyota, perhaps also some herbarium sheets of flowering and fruiting material inadvertently collected from different species, and/or hybrids involving the species named above in one or more combinations.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
