6. Clematis versicolor Small ex Rydb. (pale leather flower, leather flower)

Pl. 513 b; Map 2354

Plants with perfect flowers, the stems woody (at least toward the base), twining, 1–5 m long. Well-developed leaves pinnately 5–9-foliate, usually leathery in texture, the minor veins usually forming a raised network, the leaflets usually undivided, seldom 2- or 3-lobed, the margins entire, the upper surface green to grayish green, the undersurface pale and glaucous, glabrous. Flowers solitary or in groups of 2 or 3. Perianth more or less cylindrical, the sepals 15–18 mm long, erect or with only the apical 1–2 mm reflexed, purple, thickened and leathery, with membranous, crisped margins not evident, the inner and outer surfaces glabrous, the margins densely hairy. Fruits with the beak (3–)5–6 cm long, plumose with long, spreading hairs. 2n=16. May–June.

Scattered in the southern portion of the Ozark Division (Kentucky to Alabama west to Oklahoma and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, ledges and tops of bluffs, glades, and banks of streams and rivers, most commonly on calcareous substrates, occasionally also on sandstone or chert.