Flora of North America species comparison

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Clematis terniflora

Clematis subg. Clematis

sweet autumn clematis, sweet autumn virginsbower, yam-leaf clematis, yam-leaf virgin's-bower
Stems

climbing with tendril-like petioles and leaf rachises, 3-6 m.

Leaf

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 1-2-pinnate;

leaflets lobed or unlobed, margins entire or toothed.
Inflorescences

axillary, 3-12-flowered cymes or compound cymes or paniculate with cymose subunits.

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

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.

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

broad, flat, conspicuously rimmed, minutely appressed-silky, sometimes sparsely so;

beak 2-6 cm.

flattened or nearly terete;

beak more than 1.5 cm, plumose.
Woody

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

Clematis terniflora

Clematis subg. Clematis
Phenology Flowering summer (Jul–Sep).
Habitat Roadsides, thickets, and other secondary sites, edges of woods near creeks
Elevation 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON; native to Asia (China, Korea, Japan) [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Worldwide
Discussion

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.)

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. lasiantha, C. ligusticifolia, C. morefieldii, C. occidentalis, C. ochroleuca, C. orientalis, C. pauciflora, C. pitcheri, C. recta, C. reticulata, C. socialis, C. tangutica, 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
Synonyms C. dioscoreifolia, C. dioscoreifolia var. robusta, C. maximowicziana
Name authority de Candolle: Syst. Nat. 1: 137. (1817) Linnaeus
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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