Page:Favourite flowers of garden and greenhouse-Vol 1.djvu/12

4   CLEMATIS

Natural Order Eanunculace^. Genus Clematis Clematis (Greek, Jdema, a vine-branch or tendril). A genus of about one hundred species, occurring in warm and temperate regions. They are woody or herbaceous climbers with opposite leaves, divided into three or more leaflets, with twining tendril-like petioles. The flowers are borne in panicles or (rarely) solitary, and are usually long-stalked. The sepals are large and petal-like, in a natural state four in number, but garden varieties have often a much greater number ; colour, white, yellow, red, or purple. The petals are absent, or very small and gradually passing into stamens. Stamens numerous, often brightly coloured. Carpels ( fruit -i many, one-seeded and usually bearing long feathery styles, which increase in size and become ornamental after the sepals have fallen away. The Clematis has lx-,ii ,t favourite garden plant from an early period, C. Vdiclla having been introduced from Spain in 1569. A considerable number of the species are decidedly ornamental in a natural state, but the popular garden sorts are the results of cross-breeding and selection within the last sixty years or so. The oldest recorded hybrid is G. Hendersoni, said to have been raised in 1835 from G. Viticella and G. integrifolia. The principal raisers of large-flowered Clematis were Mr. G. Jackman, nurseryman, Woking; Mr. J. Anderson-Henry, an amateur, of Edinburgh ; Mr. Townshend, nurseryman, Hornsey; Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Sons, nurserymen, St. John's Wood ; and Mr. C. Noble, nurseryman, Bagshot. French and Belgian nurserymen, also, have raised many fine varieties. Many of the species are cultivated, and among those frequently found in gardens Principal Species. Clematis coccinea (red). Introduced from Texas about twenty-five years ago. Steins climbing; leaflets oval, shining, lobed. Flowers singly on long slender stalks ; urn-shaped, fleshy, coral red, 1J inch long; July. Should be planted where its thin stems can trail over a bush. It requires the shelter of a wall except in the warmer parts of this country. Messrs. G. Jackman & Son have lately crossed this with a large-flowered variety named Star of India, and produced a new race with handsome fleshy flowers. C. Flammula (flame), a native of Europe, has small, white, scented flowers in clusters, appearing from July to October. It is a well-known