Clematis vitalba

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Traveller's Joy

Clematis vitalba

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Clematis
Species:	C. vitalba

Binomial name

Clematis vitalba
L. (1753)

Clematis vitalba (also known as Old man's beard and Traveller's Joy) is a shrub of the Ranunculaceae family.

[edit] Description

Clematis vitalba is a climbing shrub with branched stems, deciduous leaves, and scented greeny-white flowers with fluffy underlying sepals. The fruits have an overlying silky appendage lengthwise on the plant.

[edit] Characteristics

Reproductive organs:
- Inflorescence type: biparous cyme
- Sex: hermaphrodite
- Type of pollination: entomophilous
Seed:
- Type of fruit: achene
- Dissemination: With the wind
Habitat and distribution:
- Type of habitat: Mid-European shrubberies, mountainsides, in moderately eutrophic regions
- Distribution: Holarctic

In New Zealand it is declared an "unwanted organism" and it cannot be sold, propagated or distributed. It is a threat to native plants since it grows vigorously and forms a canopy which smothers all other plants.