Clematis lasiantha, the Pipestem Clematis, is a creamy-white flowering liana

Liana

A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...

 vine

Vine

A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...

, belonging to subgenus

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 Clematis of the large Clematis genus.

Distribution

It is found on the Pacific coast of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, from the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 southwards into Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

. It extends as far east as the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, but does not grow in the Central Valley, nor at heights greater than about 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft). It grows on hillsides, in chaparral

Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

, and in open woodland.

Description

Clematis lasiantha, the Pipestem Clematis, flowers from January to June. Its leaves are 3-lobed, and generally grow groups of three to five leaflets, the largest leaves on the plant normally being between 3 and 5 cm in size. The Pipestem Clematis can be distinguished from the similar (but much more widely ranging) Virgin's Bower (Clematis ligusticifolia) by the fact that Pipestems normally only have one flower on each stalk, and at most three, whereas the Virgin's Bower has multiple flowers on each stem. The Pipestem also has more pistils in each flower, but since both species have many, this is not an easy criterion to apply. The Virgin's Bower is more likely to be found along streams or in other wet places, whereas the Pipestem tolerates more open, drier places.

External links

• Treatment from the Jepson Manual - Clematis lasiantha
• http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-lifeform=any&rel-taxon=contains&where-taxon=Clematis+lasiantha&rel-namesoup=contains&where-namesoup=&rel-location=like&where-location=&rel-county=eq&where-county=any&rel-state=eq&where-state=any&rel-country=eq&where-country=any&where-collectn=any&rel-photographer=eq&where-photographer=any&rel-kwid=equals&where-kwid=Clematis lasiantha - Photographs @ CalPhotos]
• Entry in the online Flora of North America; Clematis lasiantha