Flora of North America species comparison

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Clematis texensis

Clematis vitalba

crimson clematis, scarlet clematis, scarlet leather flower, Texas clematis

evergreen clematis, old-man's beard, Traveler's-joy, Traveler's-joy clematis, white virgin's-bower
Stems

viny, to 3 m, glabrous or sometimes ± hirsute near nodes.

climbing with tendril-like petioles and leaf-rachises, to 12 m. Leaf blade pinnately 5-foliolate;

leaflets cordiform, 8 × (2-)3-5(-6) cm, margins entire to regularly crenate or dentate;

surfaces abaxially minutely pubescent on veins, adaxially glabrous.
Leaf

blade 1-pinnate;

leaflets 6-10 plus additional tendril-like terminal leaflet, ovate to nearly round, unlobed, 2-3-lobed, or most proximal occasionally 3-foliolate, 1-9 × 1-6 cm, leathery, ± prominently reticulate adaxially;

surfaces abaxially usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely pubescent, glaucous.

Inflorescences

axillary, 1-7-flowered.

axillary and terminal, (3-)5-22-flowered cymes.
Flowers

ovoid to urn-shaped;

sepals rose-red to scarlet abaxially and at tip adaxially, ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3 cm, margins not expanded, thick, not crispate, tomentose, tips acute to acuminate, recurved, abaxially glabrous.

bisexual;

pedicel 1-1.5 cm, slender;

sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white to cream, elliptic or oblanceolate to obovate, ca. 1 cm, length ca. 2 times width, abaxially and adaxially tomentose;

stamens ca. 50;

filaments glabrous;

staminodes absent;

pistils 20 or more.
Achenes

bodies appressed-pubescent;

beak 4-7 cm, plumose.

nearly terete, not conspicuously rimmed, densely pubescent;

beak ca. 3.5 cm.
2n

= 16.

Clematis texensis

Clematis vitalba
Phenology Flowering spring–summer (Mar–Jun). Flowering summer (Jun–Aug).
Habitat Woodlands, calcareous cliffs, and stream banks Roadsides, waste ground, secondary growth
Elevation 80-700 m (300-2300 ft) 0-100 m (0-300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ME; OR; WA; BC; ON; native to Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Although widely cultivated because it is the only species of Clematis with truly red flowers, C.texensis is native only to the southeastern part of the Edwards Plateau, Texas.

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

Clematis vitalba is naturalized in only a few sites in eastern North America and northwestern Oregon to the Puget Sound.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. Viorna Ranunculaceae > Clematis > subg. 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. terniflora, 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. viticaulis, C. viticella
Synonyms Viorna coccinea
Name authority Buckley: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 448. (1862) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 544. (1753)
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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