[085] Clematis vitalba, Old Man’s beard

[085] Clematis vitalba, Old Man’s Beard

Introduction

Clematis vitalba, Old Man’s Beard, is a naturally wild species of Clematis found in Britain. It is also known as Traveller’s Joy or Wild Clematis.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Ranunculales

Family – Ranunculaceae

Subfamily – Ranunculoideae

Tribe – Anemoneae

Genus – Clematis

Scientific Name – Clematis vitalba

Name

The groups of fruits can easily be seen to resemble an old man’s beard. The name Traveller’s Joy was invented by the herbalist John Gerard (1545-1612) who wrote the most important book about botany of the Sixteenth Century. (Most of the book was an unacknowledged translation of an earlier book by the Flemish botanist Rembert Dodoens.)

The Latin ‘vita-’ means life or, figuratively, mankind, and ‘-alba’ means white.

Description

We have to compare this to other [084] Clematis species. There are obvious similarities and definite differences.

Like other Clematis, it’s a climber and it spreads to cover what it is climbing over.

(You will have to wait until [172] Snails to identify the visitor in the second picture above.)

Developing from tiny white buds, the flowers are much smaller than the garden versions of Clematis. They are only about a centimetre in size and the four small white petals are almost hidden by lots of spiky white stamens.

The tiny fruits, called achenes, have feathery extensions which give the overall impression of the old man’s beard as they stay on the plant.

Habitat and use

Clematis vitalba is native to much of Europe. In Britain and grows in all of England except the far North, and most of Wales.

It is sometimes planted as an ornamental plant and in some countries such as New Zealand it has becpme invasive.

Other Notes

This is fairly widespread. I don’t think it is so often treated as a weed in Britain because it is quite attractive.

See also

Somewhere towards the end of May we will see another spreading plant that is considered more invasive.

[084] Clematis species, Clematis

[084] Clematis Species

Introduction

Clematis is a genus of large-flowered climbing plants with about three hundred species, mainly from China and Japan, now widely cultivated as hundreds of cultivars from various species and hybrids. They are usually just known as Clematis.

I will consider all of its varieties here but will leave the native wild British species, Clematis vitalba, until tomorrow.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Ranunculales

Family – Ranunculaceae

Subfamily – Ranunculoideae

Tribe – Anemoneae

Genus – Clematis

Scientific Name – Most cultivated plants are named varieties or cultivars, without specific allocation to species.

A check with the RHS website gave me a preliminary list of 2650 varieties, which is probably out-of-date by now.

Name

Clematis comes from the Ancient Greek, meaning a climbing plant. The genus name long predates modern taxonomy.

Description

Most but not all species are vigorous, woody, perennial climbing plants and can be cultivated to cover a wall. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen. Most come originally from temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Some flower in Spring and some are Autumn flowering varieties.

There are various views on how to classify the 300 species. They have been defined in nineteen subsections, or in nine subgenera, by different authorities.

Flowers vary from 2 to 30 centimetres in diameter and may have from four to eight petals. They are typically coloured from white to purple and generally have large, flat open flowers.

Here is a selection of pictures without specific identification.

Some varieties have particularly attractive feathery seed heads. This is Clematis lasiantha, Pipestem Clematis.

History

Chinese species were found in Japan by the Seventeenth Century. They found their way to Europe from Japan before the Chinese species were identified. Since Victorian times they have been widely cultivated in Britain and new cultivars continue to be produced.

They are popular in gardens as plants that will climb walls or cover trees.

There are now cultivated specimens of the seven species native to New Zealand. This is Clematis paniculata, named Puawhananga by the Maoris, meaning ‘flower of the skies.’

Other Notes

You will see Clematis frequently in gardens. Some of these pictures come from my own garden.

See also

[025] Chinese Anemone is on of this plant’s closest relatives and there are similarities in the flowers.

There are few climbing plants grown as garden plants. The only other fairly common one is [213] Honeysuckle.