''Clematis virginiana'' (also known as devil's darning needles, devil's hair, love vine, traveller's joy, virgin's bower, Virginia virgin's bower, wild hops, and woodbine; syn. ''Clematis virginiana'' L. var. ''missouriensis'' (Rydb.) Palmer & Steyermark ) is a vine of the

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 ...

(buttercup family) native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

from Newfoundland to southern Manitoba down to the Gulf of Mexico. The rationale for some of the common names is unclear, as they include examples normally applied to unrelated plants, including twining parasites (e.g. "devil's hair" for ''

Cuscuta ''Cuscuta'' (), commonly known as dodder or amarbel, is a genus of over 201 species of yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, it now is accepted as belonging in the ...

''). The name " Love Vine" also is applied to alleged aphrodisiacs, such as Caribbean species of ''

Cassytha ''Cassytha'' is a genus of some two dozen species of obligately parasitic vines in the family Lauraceae. Superficially, and in some aspects of their ecology, they closely resemble plants in the unrelated genus ''Cuscuta'', the dodders.Weber ...

'', which are unrelated to ''Clematis'', not being in the family

Description

This plant is an aggressively growing vine which can climb to heights of by twisting leafstalks. The leaves are opposite and pinnately compound, trifoliate (3 leaflets) that have coarse unequal teeth on the margins. It produces small dull white flowers of width from July to September that are faintly sweetly fragrant; sometimes

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

so that there are separate

staminate The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

(male) and

pistillate Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

(female) plants. The male plants are a little showier in flower and don't bear seed. The dry fruit is an

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 ...

with long hair as silvery gray feathery plumes attached in late August into November. It grows on the edges of the woods, moist slopes, fence rows, in thickets and on streambanks. It grows in full sun to light full shade and is very adaptable to many soils from sandy to clay, dry to draining wet, and acid to alkaline with a pH range of 6.0 to 8.5. It has a deep but sparse, fibrous root system that makes it hard to transplant.

Cultivation

Suited for

USDA hardiness zones A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

of 3 to 8, ''C. virginiana'' is not commonly planted in gardens and landscapes in most places. However, it is sold by a good number of native plant nurseries and some specialty and large conventional nurseries. What is usually sold at most conventional nursery or garden center is the similar sweet autumn clematis, '' Clematis terniflora'', favored due its heavier leaf coverage, pleasant aroma, and ability to flourish more in shade. Due to its propensity for self-sprouting, the rampant growing sweet autumn clematis quickly can become invasive when introduced to the native habitat of ''Clematis virginiana''.

Ecology

It is a larval host of the clematis clearwing moth ('' Alcathoe caudata'').

Description

Cultivation

Ecology

References

Further reading