''Clematis montana'', the mountain clematis, also Himalayan clematis or anemone clematis, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (, buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family (biology), family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 spec ...

. A vigorous

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

climber, in late spring it is covered with a mass of small blooms for a period of about four weeks. The odorous flowers are white or pink, four-petalled, with prominent yellow anthers. It is native to mountain areas of Asia from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Cultivation

''Clematis montana'' is a popular garden plant in temperate regions, with the ability to scramble up and over unsightly features such as sheds and fences. Left unchecked it can grow to . The plant attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Numerous varieties and cultivars have been bred for horticultural use, including: *''C. montana'' 'Alexander' *''C. montana'' var. ''grandiflora'' AGM with larger flowers than the species *''C. montana'' var. ''rubens'' **'Broughton Star' AGM - double, deep pink flowers **'Elizabeth' - with pale pink flowers **'Freda' **'Pink Perfection' **'Tetrarose' AGM has deep pink flowers. *''C. montana'' var. ''wilsonii'' - later flowering, chocolate scented Those cultivars marked AGM have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Etymology

''Clematis'' is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

name for several climbing plants, and is a diminutive of ''klema'', meaning "vine shoot".Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 111, 263 The Latin

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''montana'' refers to mountains or coming from mountains.

Collections

The UK national collection of '' Clematis montana'' is held at By The Way, at Woodfalls, near

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, Wiltshire, within the

New Forest National Park The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

. Much of the collection has been propagated from British Clematis Society seeds.

References

montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Flora of Afghanistan Flora of Myanmar Flora of China Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Taiwan Plants described in 1817 {{Ranunculaceae-stub