Plant Species: Clematis hirsutissima, sugar bowls
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae -- buttercup
Genus: Clematis
Species: hirsutissima
Variety: The Palouse phase is var. hirsutissima.
Common Name: sugar bowls, leather flower
Species Code: CLHI
Origin: Native to moist areas from shrub-steppe to open forest of the interior west of Washington and Oregon east to western Montana and Wyoming and south to the mountains of northern New Mexico and Arizona. The Palouse phase is the typical northern var. hirsutissima.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial from a woody caudex; hirsute, densely soft-pubescent, or glabrous; stems several, erect or decumbent at the base, 20-40 cm tall.
Duration: perennial
Longevity: short-lived
Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets
Wetland Indicator Status: not listed
Leaves: opposite, silky-hirsute, becoming glabrous with age; lowest reduced, bract-like, entire; middle and upper 2-4 pinnate, ultimate segments linear to lanceolate; blades short-petiolate to sessile, up to 13 cm long.
Mature height: 8-16 inches
Flowers: perfect, borne singly on terminal peduncles, nodding; calyx urceolate to campanulate; sepals connate at the base, brownish purple and hairy outside, glabrous and purple inside; petals wanting.
Flower color: purple, blue
Bloom: May
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: achene, villous, styles persistent, plumose.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Perennating organ is a woody caudex.
Flowers are perfect.
The Nez Perce used the plant to revive exhausted horses (St. John 1963).
Native peoples used the plants medicinally.
Fruit is an achene.
Seeds are probably windborne, at least short distances, due to the persistent plumose style.
Comments:
Sun requirement: full sun
Soil moisture: mesic
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: spring
Stratification: cold moist
Seed yield: medium
Seed harvest: easy
Seed first harvest: third season
Seed cleaning: difficult
Planting duration: short?
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: medium
Seed size: medium
Seed harvest date: late June to early July
Seed comments: the style is difficult to remove from the seed.
Key words: native upland forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
University of Kentucky
Other propagation information:
Germinates best with cold moist stratification if a small amount of pericarp is removed at the root end of the seed. Grow at 22/17 oC day/night after germination (McDonough 1969).
120 days cold moist stratification with light resulted in highest germination. Germinates at low temperatures during stratification (Nauman 2002).
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes:
Clematis hirsutissima flowers are not too exciting, but the seedheads are interesting. Has been nicknamed the “Dr. Seuss plant” because the seedhead looked like a hairdo out of a Dr. Seuss illustration. We’ve grown a few of these but haven’t figured out yet what makes them germinate. Sometimes available from mail-order nurseries. Common names include sugar bowls, leather flower (Skinner et al 2005).
References:
McDonough, Walter T. 1969. Effective Treatments for the Induction of Germination in Mountain Rangeland Species. Northwest Science 43:18-22.
Nauman, C. 2002. Germination of 12 Palouse Prairie Forbs After Stratification Under Light and Dark Treatments. M.S. Thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow ID.
Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. More Palouse Forbs for Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation.
Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/More_Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf
St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.