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Clematis virginiana L.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Clematis virginiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/clematis/clematis-virginiana/). Accessed 2024-11-09.

Glossary

axillary
Situated in an axil.
leaflet
Leaf-like segment of a compound leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
unisexual
Having only male or female organs in a flower.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Clematis virginiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/clematis/clematis-virginiana/). Accessed 2024-11-09.

A deciduous, climbing shrub up to 20 ft high; young stems ribbed and almost without down. Leaves nearly always consisting of three leaflets (rarely five), which are ovate, rounded or heart-shaped at the base, coarsely and unequally toothed, borne on a common stalk 112 to 3 in. long; each leaflet on its own stalk 14 to 12 in. long, slightly downy when young. Flowers dull white, 1 to 114 in. across, produced in axillary panicles 3 to 6 in. long in August and September; sepals four, oblong, thin. Seed-vessels with silky, feathered styles, forming silvery heads about 212 in. across.

Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1767. It is but little grown outside botanic gardens, being inferior in vigour to our native species, and not so attractive as many others. It is allied most closely to C. vitalba, but is distinguished by its three-foliolate instead of five-foliolate leaves. Plants, too, are frequently unisexual.