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

Italian leather flower

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: leaflets 3-7, proximal leaflets sometimes 3-foliolate, lanceolate to broadly ovate or elliptic, unlobed or 1-3-lobed, 1.5-7 cm, somewhat leathery, margins entire.

Inflorescences

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

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.

sepals 4, blue to violet or rose-violet, 1.5-4 cm, length ca. 1.2-2 times width, abaxially pubescent;

stamens green;

beak glabrous.

Achenes

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

beak 2-6 cm.

Vines

2-4(-6) m.

Clematis terniflora

Clematis viticella

Phenology Flowering summer (Jul–Sep). Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Roadsides, thickets, and other secondary sites, edges of woods near creeks Roadsides, thickets and other secondary habitats
Elevation 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft) 200 m (700 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]
from FNA
ON; native to Europe [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Clematis viticella has also been reported from Quebec, New York, and Tennessee, but the reports have not been verified. It probably should be expected elsewhere.

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

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Clematis Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viticella
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
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. terniflora, C. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, C. vitalba, C. viticaulis
Synonyms C. dioscoreifolia, C. dioscoreifolia var. robusta, C. maximowicziana Viticella viticella
Name authority de Candolle: Syst. Nat. 1: 137. (1817) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 543. (1753)
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