Glaucous clematis

Viorna glaucophylla (Small) Small

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.