Curly-heads

(Clematis ochroleuca)

 

   

 

Color photograph: Homer D. House. 1918. Wildflowers of New York.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Curly-heads (Clematis ochroleuca Ait.)

Identification: Flowers on long stalks exceeding the foliage, hanging, and bell-like. Petal-like sepals yellow to blue-violet in color. Seeds with very long, hairy styles making a puffy-looking seed head. Leaves nearly sessile to stem, ovate, smooth above, and hairy below. An erect plant 1 to 2.5 feet in height.

Distribution: Found along the Atlantic Coast from New York in the east, southward to Georgia.

Habitat: Curly-heads is found primairly in dry, rocky forest.

Similar Species: The puffy flowerhead and the hanging, bell-like flowers are characteristics of many species of the genus Clematis. Most other species of Clematis are woody vines.

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