Flora of North America species comparison

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Clematis vitalba

Clematis ligusticifolia

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

creek clematis, hierba de chivo, old man's beard, pipestems, virgin's-bower, western clematis, western virgin's bower, western white clematis, white clematis, white virgin's-bower, wireweed
Stems

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.

clambering or climbing, to 6(-20) m. Leaf blade pinnately 5-foliolate or 2-pinnate and 9-15-foliolate, somewhat succulent;

leaflets lanceolate to broadly ovate, lobed or unlobed, (1-)3-9 × 0.9-7.2 cm, margins entire or variously toothed;

surfaces abaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose or silky, especially on veins; ultimate venation obscure.
Inflorescences

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

axillary, usually 7-20(-65)-flowered compound cymes, often distinctly corymbiform, flowers crowded.
Flowers

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.

unisexual;

pedicel slender, 0.5-3 cm;

sepals wide-spreading, not recurved, white to cream, obovate to oblanceolate, 6-10 mm, abaxially and adaxially pilose;

stamens 25-50;

staminodes absent or fewer than stamens;

pistils 25-65.
Achenes

nearly terete, not conspicuously rimmed, densely pubescent;

beak ca. 3.5 cm.

elliptic, 3-3.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, prominently rimmed, silky;

beak 3-3.5 cm.
2n

= 16.

Clematis vitalba

Clematis ligusticifolia
Phenology Flowering summer (Jun–Aug). Flowering summer (Jun–Sep).
Habitat Roadsides, waste ground, secondary growth Forest edges, woods, riparian deciduous woodlands, moist wooded draws, scrub, secondary sites derived from these, or clearings and pastures, usually near streams or on moist slopes
Elevation 0-100 m (0-300 ft) 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; OR; WA; BC; ON; native to Europe; n Africa [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; SK; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Clematis ligusticifolia is the common virgin's-bower in the western United States and Canada. In California it might hybridize with C. lasiantha. In Mexico it is found only in the extreme north; it is probably related to the Mexican and Central American species, C.grossa Bentham.

The name Clematis neomexicana has been applied to the populations with crenate leaflets in New Mexico and northern Chihuahua. This distinction is tenuous, however, given the wide variation present in leaflet margins within this and other species in Clematis subg. Clematis.

Two varieties of Clematis ligusticifolia have been weakly distinguished based on the presence or absence of 2-pinnate leaves.

Infusions prepared from the plants of Clematis ligusticifolia were used medicinally by Native Americans as a wash for skin eruptions, a lotion for backaches or swollen limbs, and a lotion to protect one against witches; stems and leaves were chewed to treat colds and sore throats; decoctions of leaves were also used as a wash and for stomachaches and cramps; and lathers of leaves were used to treat boils on humans and on animals (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(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. 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. texensis, C. versicolor, C. viorna, C. virginiana, 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. 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, C. viticella
Synonyms C. ligusticifolia var. brevifolia, C. ligusticifolia var. californica, C. neomexicana, C. suksdorfii
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 544. (1753) Nuttall: in J. Torrey and A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 9. (1838)
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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