Clematis ranunculoides Franch.

An erect shrub 1 to 2 ft high in the open, but in hedges or on shrubs climbing 6 to 10 ft high; young stems grooved and angular, hairy to nearly glabrous. Leaves varying from trilobed to trifoliolate and quinquefoliolate, with the ovate or obovate leaflets 1⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, coarsely toothed and usually more or less hairy, leaf-stalks from 2 to 6 in. long, often much curled. Flowers solitary in the leaf-axils or in few-flowered or terminal clusters, nodding on short, hairy, slender stalks; sepals purple to pale rose, oblong, 3⁄5 in. long, much recurved, downy, three-ribbed on the back. Stamens 2⁄5 in. long. Achenes compressed, 11⁄4 in. long, downy. Bot. Mag., t. 9239.

Native of China; introduced in 1906 by Forrest from the Tali Range. At home it flowers from May to September, but in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden it has flowered as late as November. Often found in grassy situations and then only 1 to 2 ft high.