Clematis terniflora
Clematis pitcheri
sweet autumn clematis, sweet autumn virginsbower, yam-leaf clematis, yam-leaf virgin's-bower
bellflower clematis, bluebill, Pitcher's clematis, Pitcher's leather flower
climbing with tendril-like petioles and leaf rachises, 3-6 m.
viny, to 4 m, very sparsely short-pilose, sometimes nearly glabrous.
blade pinnately 3- or 5-foliolate;
leaflets ovate or broadly lanceolate to narrowly deltate, to 6.5 × 3.5 cm, margins entire;
surfaces abaxially glabrous or very sparingly appressed-strigose on major veins.
blade mostly 1-2 pinnate, many leaves simple;
primary leaflets 2-8 plus additional tendril-like terminal leaflet, deeply 2-5-lobed or unlobed or 3-foliolate, leaflets or major lobes lanceolate to broadly ovate, 1-11 × 1-6 cm, leathery (thin in var. pitcheri), ± prominently reticulate adaxially;
surfaces abaxially nearly glabrous to densely pubescent, not glaucous.
axillary, 3-12-flowered cymes or compound cymes or paniculate with cymose subunits.
axillary, 1-7-flowered.
bisexual, often some unisexual (staminate) in same inflorescence;
pedicel 1-3.5 cm, slender;
sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white, linear or elliptic to lanceolate or narrowly obovate, 0.9-2.2 cm, length ca. 2-3 times width, abaxially tomentose along margins, adaxially glabrous;
stamens ca. 50;
filaments glabrous;
staminodes absent;
pistils 5-10.
ovoid to urn-shaped;
sepals pale to dark bluish or reddish purple, sometimes whitish toward tip, ovate-lanceolate, 1.2-3(-4) cm (larger sepals mostly in w part of range), margins narrowly expanded distally to about 1 mm wide, thin, crispate toward tip, tomentose, tips acuminate, recurved, abaxially sparsely to densely appressed-puberulent.
broad, flat, conspicuously rimmed, minutely appressed-silky, sometimes sparsely so;
beak 2-6 cm.
bodies appressed-pubescent;
beak 1-3 cm, nearly glabrous to ± appressed-pubescent or silky.
Clematis terniflora
Clematis pitcheri
Clematis terniflora is commonly cultivated as an ornamental. It is widely naturalized in the eastern United States. The name C. paniculata J. F. Gmelin was incorrectly used for this species by Thunberg in 1794.
Some authors have recognized two or more varieties in this species, correlated with their distribution in Asia, but in the study by H.Hara (1975), all of the varietal names were reduced to synonymy.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Clematis pitcheri is highly variable, notably in the size and thickness of the leaflets, the external sepal color and internal color of the recurved tips, and the amount of pubescence of the beaks. Additional varieties might be recognized, as some authors have done in the past, but the extent of intergradation and the lack of correlation among varying traits tend to make recognition of additional varieties impractical (W. M. Dennis 1976). The two varieties recognized here show very extensive intergradation in the western part of the range of the species.
Although otherwise similar to Clemitis reticulata, C. pitcheri differs distinctly in its more coarsely reticulate leaves, with the smallest closed areoles mostly over 2 mm long, and its scarcely raised tertiary and quaternary veins.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaflets mostly 4–11 cm, thin; stamens with filaments and extended connectives usually pubescent. | var. pitcheri |
1. Leaflets mostly 3–4 cm, somewhat leathery; stamens with filaments and extended connectives usually glabrous or nearly so. | var. dictyota |
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