''Clematis aristata'', known as Australian clematis, wild clematis, goat's beard or old man's beard, is a climbing shrub of the family Ranunculaceae, found in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in dry and wet forests of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Victoria and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. In spring to early summer it produces mass displays of attractive star-shaped flowers usually borne in short panicles with each flower up to 70 mm diameter and possessing four narrow white or cream

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s. Fertile male and female reproductive structures occur in flowers of separate plants ( dioecy) making this species an obligate outcrosser with pollen movement among plants most likely facilitated by insects. Each seed head (or

infructescence In botany, infructescence (fruiting head) is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from the ovaries of an inflorescence. It usually retains the size and structure of the inflorescence. In some cases, infructescences are similar in appearance ...

) on female plants consists of multiple

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple fruit, simple dry fruits, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and Dehi ...

s (an aeterio) with each seed bearing a plumose awn 2–4.5 cm long promoting dispersal by wind. The mature leaves are most commonly

ternate Ternate (), also known as the City of Ternate (; ), is the List of regencies and cities of Indonesia, city with the largest population in the province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia. It was the ''de facto'' provi ...

with leaflets up to 80 mm long and petioles that are able to twine around objects to provide climbing support. Juvenile leaves are simple, usually purplish-tinged with whitish streaks along the main veins. Several varieties have been previously described but are now not formally recognised. These included: :var. ''blanda'' - with small flowers and twice-divided leaflets which is found from Victoria to Tasmania :var. ''dennisae'' - with red filaments in the flowers and found in eastern Victoria :var. ''longiseta'' - with yellowish hairy flowers found in Queensland Cytological analysis has shown ''C. aristata'' to be diploid with a somatic chromosome number of 2''n''=16. These consist of five pairs of metacentric, one pair of subtelocentric, and two pairs of telocentric chromosomes with distal heterochromatic satellites.

Cultivation

''Clematis aristata'' is a popular hardy garden plant. It prefers a semi-shaded or shaded position and cool deep soils and will withstand heavy pruning. It is a vigorous climber and may become a problem by smothering other plants. Propagation can be carried out from fresh seed and from cuttings of semi-hardened stems.

References

aristata Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (state) {{Australia-eudicot-stub