Clematis tangutica (Maxim.) Korsh in Bull. Acad. Sci. Petersb. 9: 399, 575. 1898; Grey-Wilson in Kew Bull. 44: 53. 1 U-V, 4 A-C. 1989. C. orientalis L. var. tangutica Maxim., Fl. Tangut. 1: 3. 1889; Hook. in Bot. Mag. t. 710. 1900.

Shrubs, decumbent, straggling, climbing or rarely erect; stems up to 3 - 4 m long, green when young; branches straight, finely pubescent. Leaves pinnatisect with 5 - 7 leaflets, rarely more or less bipinnate, glabrous; leaflets distant, ovate to narrow-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, serrate or incised with 7 acute teeth along each margin, 1.8 - 5.7 x 0.4 - 1.6 cm, sparsely pubescent above, pubescent to subglabrous beneath. Flowers solitary, terminal or axillary, on long pedicels at nodes or terminating branches, sometimes 2 - 3 together, lemon yellow, tinged with brown or purplish brown outside, bell-shaped, nodding; peduncles 6 - 30 mm long; bracts like leaves, but smaller, trilobed; pedicels 4 - 32 mm long, slender, sparsely pubescent or glabrous. Sepals elliptic-lanccolate to oblong, acute, acuminate or obtuse, 1.8 - 3.4 x 0.7 - 1.6 cm, scarcely spreading, finely white silky pubescent outside, glabrous and pale yellow inside. Filaments 5 - 10 mm long, densely ciliate in lower half; anthers 2 - 3 mm long. Achenes up to 5.5 cm long, beaked, compressed, pubescent.

Fl. & Fr. July - Aug.

Distrib. India: Kashmir.

China and Central Asia.

Notes. Grey-Wilson (l. c.) describes 2 subspecies, subsp.obtusiuscula (Rehder & Wilson) Grey-Wilson from China and subsp. mangolica Grey-Wilson from Mangolia. Kashmir plants belong to subsp. tangutica.