These large feathery white blooms were found while hiking in the Vaca Mountain range (2200 feet elev) Near Vacaville, California. The leaves looked very similar to poison oak, but the white tufts and the long stems are not typical of any poison oak I have seen before. There were only a few of these shrubs mixed in with other typical poison oak plants in the area. Thank you for any help with identifying this plant.
The tufts are the infrutescences of a clematis vine growing on the shrub or tree, rather than those of the host shrub.
Thanks for the help. It seems there are endless (I went to Clematis on the Web) varieties of Clematis. Would there be any way to narrow down the subgenus or species without the flower (next spring?) ? This specimen was found in the wild and doubt that it was "planted" based on it's remote location.
There will only be a small number of clematis species native to the locale, perhaps only one. Web sites and guidebooks covering the area will help you name it.
Try working your way through here to see which ones are mapped for the area, and fit on description: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Clematis Work through clicking on "next taxon" near the base of each page till you get to the end of Clematis (or the start of the next genus after!). Edit: just checked through, there's only 3 species to look up! It can really only be Clematis ligusticifolia: http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Clematis+ligusticifolia as C. lasiantha doesn't get quite far enough north and C. pauciflora is even further south.
Thanks to everyone for their replies. . . Especially Ron B. and Michael F. ~ ( I envy your "cool" climates right now... it is 105F here today!) I have to go with a match for Clematis lasianthia, rather than Clematis ligusticifolia. My reasons are: 1. Leaves have typically 3 leaflets and are 3-lobed (thus my initial thought it was connected with poison oak) 2. The ecology is open woodland and hillside rather than wet area or near a stream. 3. No flowers at this time, but "pipe" stems and hairy feathery "fruit" . 4. Even though it is outside it's region, it is in an adjacent region with climatic influence from the bay area. Please tell me if you think I am wrong! I really appreciate any comments or additional replies. This specimen was found about 7 miles from my home and I have never seen anything like it before, even though I do quite a bit of local hiking. I can't wait for spring to see & enjoy the flowers~ Thanks again, Orin
Seems reasonable; I didn't look at the descriptions in any detail. 17°C here today, which is at least better than yesterday's 13°C!
