Plant Name
Scientific Name: Clematis drummondii
Common Names: Drummond's Clematis, Old Man's Beard, Texas Virgin's Bower
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous
Growth Habit: Vine
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Riparian. This vine grows in desert canyons and washes, usually in the shade of trees.
Flower Color: White to cream
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: Climbing to 16 feet (4.9 m) tall or more
Description: The flowers have 4, white, petal-like sepals and a cluster of white stamens. The flowers are followed by masses of fluffy, white seed plumes. The leaves are pilose (fuzzy) and 1-pinnate with usually five, tri-cleft, ovate to triangular leaflets.
The very similar Western White Clematis (Clematis ligusticifolia) has glabrous to sparsely haired leaves.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Magnoliidae
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae – Buttercup family
Genus: Clematis L. – leather flower
Species: Clematis drummondii Torr. & A. Gray – Drummond's clematis
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