Volume 11 > Part 1 > Year 2011 > Page 53 > Ranunculaceae > Clematis

3. Clematis thaimontana Tamura

Thai Forest Bull., Bot. 28: 17. 2000.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Evergreen climber, drying blackish. Stems covered with minute crisp hairs, internodes porcate with 6 ridges. Leaves remotely 2-paired-imparipinnate, 21–32 cm including petioles, the lowest pinnae ternate or 3-partite, petiolulate, upper pinnae usually simple, sessile or petiolulate, terminal pinnae simple, tripartite or ternate, all leaflets or leaf-segments elliptic, ovate-elliptic or lanceolate elliptic, more or less asymmetrical in lateral ones, 2–8 by 1–3 cm, acute at base, acute to acuminate at apex, margins entire or serrate with few teeth, herbaceous or coriaceous herbaceous, mian veins 3–7, branching near base, upper surface nearly glabrous except veins, lower surface pubescent especially on veins, petiolules up to 2.2 cm long, petioles 4.5–7 cm long, hardly dilated near base. Inflorescences axillary, trichotomous, 9–13-flowered, peduncles 3–4 cm long, bracts elliptic, pedicels 3.5–4.5 cm long, crisp pubescent to subvillose, bracteoles ovate, 3–4 mm long. Flowers flat, drying blackish, 2–3.5 cm diam. Sepals 4, elliptic-oblong, obtuse at apex, 14–18 by 2.5–5 mm, white, drying blackish, upper surface glabrous, lower surface entirely tomentose with yellowish, incurved or ascending hairs, denser along margins. Anthers elliptic, lateral, 0.8–1 mm long, connectives not projected, filaments drying blackish, 7–10 mm long, glabrous, filiform, thickened at apex, slightly dilated downwards. Achenes drying blackish, broadly ovate, 4–5 by 2.5–3 mm, compressed, hardly marginate, sessile, hispid with long, white hairs, tails 3–4.5 cm long, plumose with ca 2 mm hairs, but shorter towards base.

Thailand : NOTRHERN: Chiang Mai (Doi Chiang Dao – type).

Distribution : Endemic.

Ecology : Climbing on buches in open evergreen or mixed forests, or open, disturbed scrubs, in limestone areas, 1,400–1,600 m alt. Flowering: October–November; fruiting: January–February. Rare species of Northern provinces.

Vernacular : Phuang fa (พวงฟ้า)(Northern).

Notes: This species resembles Clematis wissmanniana from Yunnan, but it is less hairy than the Chinese ones.