Yellow Clematis (Clematis tangutica)

Family – Buttercup family
Life Cycle – perennial
Habitat – tolerant of cold, drought, nutrient-poor soils, and part shade, but prefers full sun, can be found thriving in open woodland, grassy areas and even gravelly areas.

Stems

Several stems per plant, growing up to 3-4 m long. Young stems are green while the older stems are tough and woody.

Leaves

Leaves are bright green and compound with 5-7 lance-shaped leaflets 5-6 cm long, which may be lobed. Leaf tips are pointed and leaf edges are coarsely toothed. Leaves may be slightly hairy on the underside and are deciduous.

Flowers

Flowers are lemon-yellow, nodding, with four petals, and appear mid-summer through late fall. Flowers are bell-shaped at first and then flatten as the petals spread. Petals may be silky-hairy on the outside and occasionally tinged purplish-brown. Flowers are borne at the ends of stems or in leaf axils – usually solitary but sometimes 2 or 3 together – on a short flower stem. Bracts are similar to the leaves but smaller.

Seed

Seeds are oval with silky tails about 5-6 cm long.

Prevention

Yellow clematis is distributed mainly through the nursery trade, and then spreads far beyond the hardens and flowerbeds via its abundant, wind dispersed seed.

Juvenile
Seed
Mature
Leaves
Flower
Flower