Clematis orientalis Linnaeus var. akebioides Maximowicz, Trudy Imp. S.-Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 11: 6. 1890; C. glauca Willdenow var. akebioides (Maximowicz) Rehder & E. H. Wilson.

Vines woody. Branches shallowly 6--10-grooved, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous. Leaves 1- or 2-pinnate; petiole 3--7.8 cm; leaflet blades ovate, elliptic, or oblong, 1.2--4 × 0.6--3 cm, thin papery to herbaceous, undivided or 3-lobed, abaxially sparsely puberulous on veins or glabrous, glaucous, adaxially glabrous, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin crenate, apex obtuse, rounded, or ± acute; basal veins abaxially flat. Cymes axillary, 1--3-flowered; peduncle 0.2--2.4(--3.5) cm; bracts similar to leaflets, 1--1.5 cm, undivided or 3-lobed. Flowers 2--3.4 cm in diam. Pedicel 2.5--7 cm, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous. Sepals 4, yellow, greenish yellow, or sometimes tinged purple, narrowly ovate to ovate-oblong, 1.6--2.7 × 0.6--1.1 cm, abaxially glabrous except for velutinous margin, adaxially glabrous, apex sharp apiculate. Stamens 7--12 mm; filaments puberulous; anthers narrowly oblong to oblong, 2--3 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse or minutely apiculate. Ovaries pubescent. Style 7--12 mm, densely villous. Achenes obovate to elliptic, ca. 3 × 1.8 mm, pubescent; persistent style ca. 3 cm, plumose. Fl. Jul--Sep, fr. Sep--Oct.

* Scrub, grassy slopes, along streams; 1200--3600 m. Gansu, W Nei Mongol, Qinghai, W Sichuan, E to SE Xizang, NW Yunnan.