Clematis glaucophylla

Stems viny, to 5 m, glabrous. Leaf blade 1-pinnate; leaflets 4-10 plus additional tendril-like terminal leaflet, proximal leaflets usually 3-lobed or 3-foliolate, distal leaflets usually unlobed, ovate, 3-10 × 2-7.5 cm, ± thin, not prominently reticulate adaxially; surfaces abaxially glabrous and glaucous. Inflorescences axillary, 1-3-flowered; bracts about 1/3 distance from base of peduncle. Flowers ovoid; sepals deep rose-red to purplish red, ovate-lanceolate, 2-2.5 cm, margins not expanded, thick, not crispate, tomentose, tips long-acuminate, ± recurved, abaxially glabrous. Achenes: bodies appressed-pubescent; beak 5-6 cm, plumose. 2 n = 16.

Flowering spring-summer. Stream banks in rich, neutral to slightly acid soils; 0-100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., Okla.

Reports of Clematis glaucophylla from other southeastern states have been based on misidentified specimens (W. M. Dennis 1976). Recent reports of the species in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Virginia have not been confirmed.

Stems climbing; herbage glabrous and glaucous; lvs mostly compound, but simple ones often also present, the latter ovate to broadly cordate-ovate, subsessile, the former with 4-5 pairs of lance-ovate to cordate-ovate lfls, the lower pairs sometimes 3-lobed, the upper pairs progressively smaller, all thin, not strongly reticulate; cal urceolate; sep lance-ovate, 1.5-2.5 cm, shortly caudate acuminate, deep cherry red, glabrous on the back, tomentose on the margins; mature style 4-5 cm, densely plumose; 2n=16. Moist woods and along streams; N.C. to Ky. and Okla., s. to Fla. and Miss.; rare. June, July. (Viorna glaucophylla)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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