Clematis orientalis
L., Sp. Pl. 543. 1753; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Brit. India
1: 5. 1872; Grey-Wilson in Kew Bull. 44: 36, f. 2. 1989. C. orientalis L. var. latifolia & var.
obtusifolia Hook. f. & Thomson, l. c. 5. 1872.
Large woody climbers or scramblers, up to 8 m long; stems and branches angular,
whitish grey or tinged with purplish red, sparsely pilose. Leaves pinnate, up to 7-foliolate
or somewhat bipinnate and up to 9-foliolate; petioles 2 -
10 cm long; leaflets oblong-lan-
ceolate, elliptic or ovate or linear-oblong, simple or 2 - 3-lobed or deeply cleft, entire or
sometimes trilobed, oblique, cuneate or rounded at base, obtuse or subacute at apex,
(1-) 2.5 -
6.5 x 0.5 -
3.5(-5) cm, glabrous or sparsely pilose, greyish green or glaucous;
petiolules 5 -
30 mm long, pilose. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, elongated, 3-many-
flowered, leafy cymes; peduncles 0.5 - 9.5 cm long; pedicels slender, 0.5 - 5 cm long,
curved at apex, pilose, elongating in fruit; bracts oblong, elliptic or ovate, 2 -
20 x 1 -
10
mm, entire, unifoliolate, pinnate or 2 -
3-lobed, shortly petiolate, greyish green; flower
buds ovoid, acute, dark red. Flowers 3 -
5 cm across, pale yellow, greenish yellow or
cream-coloured, sometimes purplish brown inside, tinged with red-violet outside, often
mottled with purple. Sepals 4, ovate, oblong or elliptic, acute or subacute, 11 - 15 x 4 -
7.5 mm, spreading, recurved later, silky villous outside or on both surfaces. Stamens
20 -
40; filaments slender, broad at base, 4 -
8 mm long, yellow or dark purple; anthers
2.5 - 4 mm long. Carpels many, 5 - 11 mm long, ellipsoid or rhomboid; style 4 -
10 mm
long, pubescent. Achenes rhomboid, laterally compound, ribbed at margins, 2 -
4 x 1 -
2 mm, dark brown, pubescent with 2.5 - 5 cm long hairy tails.
Fl. & Fr. July - Sept.
Distrib. India: W. Himalayas, on open alpine or subalpine hill slopes, amongst shrubs and rocks. Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Southern Russian States and S.E. Europe.
Fl. & Fr. July - Sept.
Distrib. India: W. Himalayas, on open alpine or subalpine hill slopes, amongst shrubs and rocks. Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Greece, Southern Russian States and S.E. Europe.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Leaves and stems pubescent, rarely subglabrous; sepals pubescent to glabrescent outside | 22.2. orientalis |
| b. Leaves and stems subglabrous; sepals glabrous on the outside, except along margins | 2 |
| 2a. Leaflets almost as broad as long with obtuse to subobtuse lobes | 22.1. latifolia |
| b. Leaflets at least twice as broad, with acute lobes | 22.3. tenuifolia |
