''Clematis viorna'', commonly known as vasevine or leatherflower, is a flowering vine native to the southeastern United States. It grows in wooded habitats and bears purple flowers in spring and summer.

Description

''Clematis viorna'' is a vine up to four meters long. The stems are almost completely free of hairs, or may have long or short soft hairs below the

node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, ...

. Leaves are usually cut into four to eight leaflets, with a terminal leaflet similar to a tendril. Some leaves may not be cut into leaflets. The leaflets are lance-shaped to oval-shaped, ranging from unlobed to bearing two or three lobes to further divided into two or three sub-leaflets, the leaflets at the base of the leaf being most deeply divided. The leaves range from in length and in breadth (occasionally as wide as . They lack conspicuous netted veins, and bear a sparse to dense coating of long short hairs on the underside. From one to seven flowers are borne in the

leaf axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

s. The flowers range from bell-shaped to broadly-urn shaped. Like other ''Clematis'',

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are absent; what appear to be petals are in fact colored

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s. They range in color from light purple to reddish-purple, lightening and becoming a creamy yellow towards the tip of the sepal.

Taxonomy

The species was described by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

'' in 1753.

Distribution and habitat

Leatherflower is found naturally from southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware south to Georgia, and west across the

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

to Missouri and Arkansas. It grows in mesic forests and woodlands, including wooded cliffs and the banks of streams, and in thickets. It flourishes on

mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include ...

substrates.

Ecology

The flowers bloom in spring and summer.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q15369586 viorna