[Illustration]
There are many varieties of Clematis, or Virgin's Bower, familiar to
us all, both East and West, and general favorites, widely distributed
and flourishing in temperate regions; perennials, woody below, which
is unusual in this family. Usually they are beautiful trailing vines,
which climb over bushes and rocks, holding on by their twisting,
curling leaf-stalks. The flowers have no petals, or only very small
ones, but their sepals, usually four, resemble petals; the stamens are
numerous. The numerous pistils form a round bunch of akenes, their
styles developing into long feathery tails, and these gray, plumy heads
are very conspicuous and ornamental, when the flowers are gone. The
leaves are opposite, which is unusual in this family, with slender
leaf-stalks, and are usually compound. Some plants have only staminate
flowers and some only pistillate ones, and the appearance is quite
different, the flowers with stamens being handsomer.
[Sidenote: =Virgin's Bower, Pipe-stem=
_Clématis lasiántha_
=White, pale-yellow
Spring
California=]
Near the summit of Mt. Lowe, and in similar places, we find this
beautiful vine clambering over the rocks. The flowers measure an inch
and a quarter to over two inches across and they vary in tint from
almost pure white to a lovely soft shade of pale-yellow, the handsome
clusters forming a beautiful contrast to the dark-green foliage. The
stamens and pistils are on different plants. The flowers, leaves, and
stems are all more or less velvety and the akenes have tails an inch
long, forming a head, about two inches across. The flowers are often so
numerous as to make conspicuous masses of pale color on canyon sides,
in the Coast Range and Sierra Nevada Mountains.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Virgin's Bower--Clematis lasiantha.]
There are a few kinds of Atragene, resembling Clematis.
[Sidenote: =Purple Clematis=
_Atrágene occidentàlis (Clematis)_
=Violet, blue
Summer
West=]
This is peculiarly attractive, as the flowers are large and beautiful
and the foliage very pretty. The leaves are divided into three, pointed
leaflets, which are thin in texture, light bright-green and prettily
cut or lobed, and the trailing or climbing stems are almost smooth,
slender and purplish above and woody below. The flowers, which are
not in clusters, measure from two to three inches across, with four,
sometimes five, violet or blue sepals, spreading widely as the flower
grows older, and the outer stamens are broad and resemble small petals.
The flowers are followed by handsome feathery heads, which are large
and silky. This pretty vine is found in the Grand Canyon, not far below
the Rim, and in many mountain places. The foliage varies somewhat in
different climates.
There are many kinds of Thalictrum, not easily distinguished, widely
distributed, a few in the Andes, India, and Africa; perennials, with
tall stems, from a short rootstock, and handsome, compound leaves; the
flowers perfect or imperfect, many, small, in clusters, with four to
seven sepals and no petals; the akenes tipped with the long styles and
forming a head. Some of these plants have a disagreeable smell. They
grow in moist places, both East and West.
[Sidenote: =Meadow Rue=
_Thalíctrum Féndleri_
=Greenish-white
Summer
West=]
Though its flowers are small and colorless, this plant is conspicuous
for delicacy and grace. The leaves of tender green suggest the fronds
of Maidenhair Fern and are almost as beautiful, while the flowers
are odd and pretty. A shower of numerous, pale-yellow stamens, with
purplish, threadlike filaments, falls from the center of four,
greenish-white sepals and forms a charming little tassel. These tassels
hang on the ends of very slender pedicels, in loose clusters. The
smooth stems are from one to three feet tall and the smooth leaves are
thin in texture, thrice-compound, with many, rounded leaflets, the
lower leaves with long leaf-stalks. This Meadow Rue has its pistils and
stamens on different plants, the flowers with tassels of stamens being
prettier and more conspicuous than the small, green, pistillate ones.
The variety _Wrìghtii_ is common in Arizona.
[Illustration: Lilac Clematis--Atragene occidentalis.]
[Illustration: Meadow Rue--Thalictrum Fendleri.]