Clematis flammula
NPPA pest plant
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
fragrant virgin’s bower
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Lianes & Related Trailing Plants - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
White
Detailed description
Deciduous woody climber, stem terete, weak ribbing. Leaves very sparsely hairy, green & thick, 2-pinnate, 8-15 x 3-12cm, ovate to lanceolate, cuneate to truncate at base, acute to obtuse; margin entire or 2-3 lobed; petiole glabrous, 4-5cm long. Small white flowers 20-30 mm diameter with 4 sepals. Seeds hairy & compressed, 5-6mm long.
Similar taxa
Superficially similar to C. vitalba but leaves are 2-pinnate and sepal lobes relatively longer and narrower..
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Ranunculaceae
Ecology
Flowering
January, February, March.
Fruiting
Unripe in February, ripe April-May
Year naturalised
1968
Origin
Eurasia, N Africa
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial
Other information
Etymology
clematis: From the Greek klema ‘vine’, alluding to the vine-like habit of many species
National Pest Plant Accord species
This plant is listed in the 2020 National Pest Plant Accord. The National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) is an agreement to prevent the sale and/or distribution of specified pest plants where either formal or casual horticultural trade is the most significant way of spreading the plant in New Zealand. For up to date information and an electronic copy of the 2020 Pest Plant Accord manual (including plant information and images) visit the MPI website.
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
CLEFLA