North Carolina Botanical Garden

Plant Index

Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Genus:
Family:

Clematis ochroleuca

Clematis ochroleuca Aiton

curlyheads

Synonym(s): Coriflora ochroleuca

Image ID: 8651
Image by: Cotterman, Laura
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library

PLANT INDEX

ID_PLANT: CLOC
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Clematis ochroleuca
Include in WOTAS: 1
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2018-02-07

GENUS INDEX

GENUS CODE: CLEMA
GENUS SCIENTIFIC: Clematis
GENUS AUTHORITY: L.
GENUS COMMON: Leather flower
GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 295 species, shrubs, vines, and suffruticose herbs, of Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Oceania. W.A. Weber (1995) proposes generic status (as Coriflora W.A. Weber) for the leatherflowers, here treated as Clematis, subgenus Viorna.
GENUS IDENTIFICATION: Identification notes: Additional species of Clematis, of Asian or European origin, are cultivated as ornamentals and might be encountered.
GENUS REFERENCES: Pringle in FNA (1997); Moreno & Essig in FNA (1997); Essig (1990); Keener (1975); Keener (1967); Pringle (1971)=Z; Tamura in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993).

FAMILY INDEX

FAMILY CODE: RANUNC
FAMILY SCIENTIFIC: Ranunculaceae
FAMILY AUTHORITY: A.L. de Jussieu 1789
FAMILY COMMON: Buttercup Family
FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of about 62 genera and 2450 species, herbs, shrubs, and vines, primarily of temperate and boreal regions. Classsification of subfamilies and tribes follows Wang et al. (2009). Subfamilies and tribes follow Wang et al. (2009).
FAMILY REFERENCE: Whittemore & Parfitt in FNA (1997); Wang et al. (2009); Keener (1977); Tamura in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993). [also see HYDRASTIDACEAE]

NCBG DESCRIPTIVES

INTRO: Erect perennial of dry woodlands and woodland borders, generally over mafic or calcareous rocks, such as diabase, gabbro, or calcareous siltstone.
STEMS: Stems simple or branching from nodes, furry and at times a little woody.
LEAVES: Leaves opposite, sessile, oval, to 5 in. long, occasionally shallowly lobed, somewhat leathery.
INFLORESCENCE:
FLOWERS: Flowers solitary and nodding at top of stem, purple- or blue-tinged on the outside and creamy yellow inside, shaped like an upside-down urn (to 1 1/3 in. long) and composed of 4 thick sepals (no true petals) with strongly recurved tips.
FRUITS: Fruit a golden, feathery, curved seed.
COMMENTS: C. addisonii and C. albicoma and coactilis ??? A lesser known native species of Clematis with habit more like a shrub than a vine.
HEIGHT: 3 ft.

DURATION: Perennial
HABIT: Herb, Subshrub

LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Opposite
LEAF COMPLEXITY: Simple
LEAF RETENTION:

FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY: Radial (Actinomorphic)
BLOOM TIME: Apr-Jun

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
		x	x	x	x

BLOOM COLOR: Yellowish-violet flowers

White	Red	Pink	Orange	Yellow	Green	Blue	Lavender	Purple	Violet	Brown	Not Applicable
				x				x	x

FRUITING PERIOD:

DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Dry forests, Woods margins
NATIVE RANGE: eastern United States

HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text: Curlyheads is a lesser known native species of Clematis. Habit is more similar to a shrub than a vine. Thrives when it is allowed to clamber loosely upon a woody plant for support. Its flowers are bell-like, with petal-like sepals. Based on the shape of its flowers, a common name that has been used for this species is Granddaddy’s-pipe. The feathery, copper- brown seed heads are quite showy in the garden. Found most often in upland woods.

Bloom Table Text:

NCBG Location:

Cultural Notes:

SOIL MOISTURE: Dry, Average
LIGHT EXPOSURE: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
MINIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 5
MAXIMUM HARDINESS ZONE: 9
GERMINATION CODE:
WILDLIFE VALUE: Bee Friendly
DEER RESISTANCE:

GRIM COLLECTIONS

Coll_id	Project	Collection date	Collector	Action
202	HORT	2001-08-07	Liloia	View
258	HORT	2009-07-29	Walker	View
998	HORT	1994-06-20		View
1360	HORT	2006-09-15	Bryan	View
1474	HORT	1997-07-01	Gardner	View
1734	HORT	2005-01-01	Bryan	View
2011	NPMD	2020-06-28	Kunz	View

GRIM ACCESSIONS

acc_id	acc_num	acc_dt	coll_id	Action
203	2011-0012	2011-01-07	202	View
255	2011-0095	2011-05-04	258	View
5803	1995-0929			View
9007	1994-0078	0000-00-00	998	View
9047	2000-0166	2000-04-19	1474	View

GRIM PLANTINGS

plt_num	acc_id	loc_num	pers_num	inst_dt	Action
412	203	41	Liloia	2011-04-21	View
413	203	16	NCBG staff	2011-11-20	View
414	203	40	Mixon	2012-01-09	View
604	255	21	Poythress	2011-04-19	View
7267	9007	27	NCBG staff	1994-06-20	View
8317	5803	204	NCBG staff	1993-01-01	View
10421	9047	119	NCBG staff	2000-03-01	View

USDA PLANTS DATABASE

USDA Symbol: CLOC
USDA Common Name: Curlyheads
Native Status: L48 (N)
Distribution: USA (GA, MD, NC, NY, SC, VA)
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Forb/herb

2018 Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina

NHP ID	S RANK	ROUNDED S RANK	G RANK	ROUNDED G RANK	STATE STATUS	FEDERAL STATUS
15097	S3	S3	G4	G4	W6

This information is derived from the 2018 North Carolina Natural Heritage Program List of Rare Plant Species.

WEAKLEY FLORA

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Clematis ochroleuca
COMMON NAME: Curlyheads
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, FNA, G, K, RAB, Va, W; = Viorna ochroleuca (Aiton) Small - S; = Coriflora ochroleuca (Aiton) W.A. Weber]
PHENOLOGY: Apr-Jun.
HABITAT: Dry woodlands and woodland borders, generally over mafic or calcareous rocks, such as diabase, gabbro, or calcareous siltstone.
COMMENTS: Primarily Piedmont: C. MD south to ec. GA; disjunct on Long Island, NY.
RANGE MAP: Clematis ochroleuca.png

Key to Map Symbols

ABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora)
Ranunculaceae A.L. de Jussieu 1789 (Buttercup Family)
SUMMARY: A family of about 62 genera and 2450 species, herbs, shrubs, and vines, primarily of temperate and boreal regions. Classsification of subfamilies and tribes follows Wang et al. (2009). Subfamilies and tribes follow Wang et al. (2009).
REFERENCE: Whittemore & Parfitt in FNA (1997); Wang et al. (2009); Keener (1977); Tamura in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993). [also see HYDRASTIDACEAE]

ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora)
Clematis L. (Leather flower)
SUMMARY: A genus of about 295 species, shrubs, vines, and suffruticose herbs, of Eurasia, North America, South America, Africa, Madagascar, and Oceania. W.A. Weber (1995) proposes generic status (as Coriflora W.A. Weber) for the leatherflowers, here treated as Clematis, subgenus Viorna.
REFERENCE: Pringle in FNA (1997); Moreno & Essig in FNA (1997); Essig (1990); Keener (1975); Keener (1967); Pringle (1971)=Z; Tamura in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993).

HERBARIUM RESOURCES

SERNEC: Find Clematis ochroleuca in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)
UNC SERNEC: Find Clematis ochroleuca in University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)

WEB RESOURCES

USDA: Find Clematis ochroleuca in USDA Plants
NPIN: Find Clematis ochroleuca in NPIN Database
FNA: Find Clematis ochroleuca in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Clematis ochroleuca

IMAGE USE RECORDS

ID IMAGE: 8651 - Primary Image FloraQuest Plant Detail Page (Landscape Preferred)
ID IMAGE1: 28884 - Primary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE2: 19322 - Secondary Image WOTAS
ID IMAGE3: 5825 - Primary Image Plant Sale Sign (Landscape Only)
ID IMAGE4: 0 - Primary Image New Plant Sale Label (Portrait Only)