Clematis finetiana Lévi. & Van.

An evergreen climber without down on branch or leaf. Leaves made up of three leaflets borne on a common stalk 11⁄2 to 3 in. long. Leaflets narrowly ovate, rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base, tapering to a point, three-nerved, thin but rather leathery in texture; 2 to 4 in. long, 11⁄4 to 2 in. wide; dark, rather bright green. Flowers fragrant, 1 to 11⁄2 in. wide, pure white but greenish at the back, produced in an inflorescence often of three blooms, but sometimes up to seven, from the leaf-axils; common stalk glabrous, 11⁄2 to 2 in. long, individual ones shorter. Sepals four, lanceolate, pointed, spreading; stamens with smooth stalks much shorter than the sepals and yellow anthers. Seed-vessel hairy, with a brown feathery style. Bot. Mag., t. 8655.

Native of Central to W. China; introduced in 1908 by Wilson, who reported it as very common in the glens and ravines around Ichang. It belongs to the group with three-veined leaves and white flowers, comprising C. armandii, meyeniana, and uncinata. It is well distinguished from C. armandii by the much smaller flowers; the numerously flowered panicles of C. meyeniana and its stamens being about as long as the sepals amply differentiate it; and the glabrous ovary of C. uncinata is a good distinction. C. finetiana has grown on a south wall for some years at Kew and it needs that amount of protection except in such places as Cornwall.

C. ‘Jeuneana’ is a reputed hybrid between C. finetiana and C. armandii and was very beautiful as shown by Capt. Symons-Jeune at Westminster on 8th March 1921, when it was given a First Class Certificate. Flowers 3⁄4 to 1 in. wide, produced in a cluster of three- or five-flowered axillary cymes; sometimes as many as thirty flowers come from a pair of leaf-axils. Sepals mostly five, oval lanceolate, ‘silvery blush’, pink underneath. The plant is possibly a form of the variable C. armandi. Flowers in June.