I have a pale mauve clematis that usually has large 6-8 inch blooms, i think it is a hybrid of some sort. This summer was unusually wet for Golden and the leaves on this clematis grew atleast 3 x their normal size (like they were on steroids!) and the flower, when it finally bloomed, turned into a cluster of 7 or 8 small flowers from where each petal would have originated (to have a single bloom as it normally blooms) Does anyone know what may have caused this strange morphology? Every bloom did the same thing. I will try to attach 2 photos to explain...one will be the "normal" bloom from the year b4 and the other will show the cluster of micro blooms from this summer. Is it possible that this clematis regressed into one of its hybrid forms? wild forms? It has never bloomed like this before...nothing was chewing on it either...
Dunno, but this description reminds me of a post made 4 weeks ago by xraycrystallographer. (Plant Identification forum: title, "Completely stumped!") The post shows a photo of a bizarre purple coneflower with multiple heads growing out of the main head. Very weird! Our expert forum members said that this condition, spread by insects, is called Aster Yellows. ---I am certain that these same folks will be able to diagnose your clematis condition: I will be interested to see your pictures!
Here are the photos...i thought i had attached them...not sure if i am doing this correctly!The middle photo is the "normal morphology", the other two photos are the strange new version of this flower...each petal has become a miniature flower.
The platter-like one is a large-flowered hybrid clematis, the other two are merely different types of clematis. Just as with hybrid teas not being the only type of roses grown, there is a diversity to cultivated clematis. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=clematis+davidiana&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Thanks for your info...but i realize the large flower is a hybrid...i took this photo last year...the other 2 photos are of the SAME plant this year....all the blooms took on this same strange morphology, instead of their normal 6-8 inch bloom like you see in the middle photo.
