Plant Species: Clematis ligusticifolia, western clematis
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots
Family: Ranunculaceae -- buttercup
Genus: Clematis
Species: ligusticifolia
Variety:
Common Name: western clematis, western virgin’s-bower, old man’s beard
Species Code: CLLI2
Origin: Native to moist areas such as riparian areas, draws, and the base of talus slopes from shrub-steppe to pine forests over much of temperate western North America where it will climb on trees, shrubs, and fences or sprawl on the ground if nothing is available to climb.
Rare: no
Form: vine or subshrub, woody, perennial, sprawling or climbing, dioecious, glabrous to strigose or villous. Individual stems are semi-woody and persist for several years.
Duration: perennial
Longevity: long
Habitat Type: riparian, prairie, forest
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC-
Leaves: deciduous, pinnately compound, leaflets 3-7, ovate to cordate, 2-8 cm long and 1-7 cm wide, coarsely toothed, lobed, or entire, the upper surface sparsely pilose or glabrous.
Mature height: 8-18 inches when sprawling on the ground
Flowers: borne in axillary cymes on new growth; petals lacking; sepals 4, cream to white, oblong-lanceolate, 6-15 mm long, pilose; staminate flowers more showy, lacking vestigial pistils; pistillate flowers with normal size but sterile stamens.
Flower color: white
Bloom: July, August
Bloom starts on: early July
Bloom ends on: early August
Fruit: achene, pilose to villous, elliptical, with a persistent plumose style, 2.5-5 cm long.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stem layering.
300,000-328,000 seeds/lb (Hassell et al 1996).
314,000 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
2n=16.
Diploids only are known.
Flowers lack petals, the sepals are white to cream-colored.
Plants are dioecious. Dioecy ensures xenogamy.
Native peoples used the plants medicinally and for fiber.
Fruit is an achene.
Seeds are probably windborne, at least short distances, due to the persistent plumose style.
Comments:
Sun requirement: full to partial sun
Soil moisture: xeric
Precipitation: 12-20 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: spring
Stratification: cold moist
Seed yield: medium
Seed harvest: difficult
Seed first harvest: second season
Seed cleaning: difficult
Planting duration: long
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: medium
Seed size: medium
Seed harvest date: Sept
Seed comments: Seed must be harvested when it is easily removed from the plant but before it is disseminated by wind.
Key words: upland vine
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
seeds, Golden Gate National Park, California
Other Propagation Information:
Seeds require no pretreatment (Mirov & Kraebel 1939).
Seeds of the genus generally require 60-180 days cold moist stratification at 33-40oF (Young & Young 1986).
Propagate vegetatively from hardwood or softwood cuttings treated with rooting hormone.
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by stem layering.
Notes: Seems to prefer areas where more moisture collects, such as streams, ditches, and bottoms of talus slopes. It likes something to climb on, such as a tree, shrub or fence, but will grow on drier sites with nothing to climb on.
References:
Hassell, Wendell, W. Rocky Beavers, Steve Ouellette, and Thomas Mitchell. 1996.
Seeding Rate Statistics for Native and Introduced Species.
Denver, CO: US Dept of Interior and USDA, NRCS.
Mirov, N.T., and C.J. Kraebel. 1939.
Collecting and Handling Seeds of Wild Plants.
Civilian Conservation Corps Forestry Publ. No.5.
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
USDA NRCS. 2009.
The PLANTS Database.
Baton Rouge, LA: National Plant Data Center.
http://plants.usda.gov, 13 July 2009.
Young, James A. and Cheryl G. Young. 1986.
Collecting, Processing and Germinating Seeds of Wildland Plants.
Portland, OR: Timber Press.