Clematis vitalba

Clematis vitalba
The silky appendages of the fruits
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Clematis
Species:	C. vitalba
Binomial name
Clematis vitalba L.

Clematis vitalba - MHNT

Clematis vitalba (also known as Old man's beard and Traveller's Joy) is a shrub of the Ranunculaceae family.

Description

Clematis vitalba is a climbing shrub with branched, grooved stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flowers with fluffy underlying sepals. The many fruits formed in each inflorescence have long silky appendages which, seen together, give the characteristic appearance of Old Man's beard. The grooves along the stems of C. vitalba can easily be felt when handling the plant.

This species is eaten by the larvae of a wide range of moths. This includes many species which are reliant on it as their sole foodplant; including Small Emerald, Small Waved Umber and Haworth's Pug.

Range

C. vitalba has a preference for base rich alkaline soils and moist climate with warm summers.

United Kingdom

In the UK it is a native plant and is common throughout England south of a line from the River Mersey and the River Humber. It also commonly occurs in southern, Eastern and northern Wales. Outside of these areas it is widely planted and occurs as far north as the southern highlands of Scotland.^[1]

Characteristics

• Reproductive organs:
  • Inflorescence type: biparous cyme
  • Sex: hermaphrodite
  • Type of pollination: entomophilous
• Seed:
  • Type of fruit: achene
  • Dissemination: With the wind
• Habitat and distribution:
  • Type of habitat: Mid-European shrubberies, mountainsides, in moderately eutrophic regions
  • Distribution: Holarctic

Invasiveness

Due to its disseminatory reproductive system, vitality, and climbing behavior, Clematis vitalba is an invasive plant in most places, including many in which it is native. Some new tree plantations can be suffocated by a thick layer of Clematis vitalba, if not checked. ^[2]

New Zealand

In New Zealand it is declared an "unwanted organism" and is listed in the National Pest Plant Accord. It cannot be sold, propagated or distributed. It is a potential threat to native plants since it grows vigorously and forms a canopy which smothers all other plants and has no natural controlling organisms in New Zealand. New Zealand native species of Clematis have smooth stems and can easily be differentiated from C. vitalba by touch.

Use

Clematis vitalba was used to make rope during the Stone Age in Switzerland.^[3] In Slovenia, the stems of the plant were used for weaving baskets for onions and also for binding crops.^[4] It was particularly useful for binding sheaves of grain because mice do not gnaw on it.^[5] It is also widely considered in the medical community to be an effective cure for stress and nerves.

Images

Flowers

Close-up of a flower

Leaves

Fruits

References

1. New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora
2. Invasive Species Compendium. "Clematis vitalba". Retrieved October 2011.
3. Johnson, Magnus. 2001. The genus Clematis. Södertälje: Magnus Johnsons Plantskola AB, p. 37.
4. Petauer, Tomaž. 1993. Leksikon rastlinskih bogastev. Ljubljana: Tehniška založba Slovenije, p. 139.
5. Kržan, Vanja. 2010. "Mi pa oznanjamo Kristusa, križanega (1 Kor 1,23)." Zaveza 42 (25 February). (Slovene)

External links

• Global Invasive Species Database - Clematis vitalba
• Traveller's Joy at Bioimages.org
• Traveller's Joy by Regional Burgas Museum Clematis vitalba in Bulgaria