Clematis terniflora - Sweet Autumn Clematis

Sweet Autumn Clematis is a woody vine with branches that are shallowly 4-10-grooved. The vine produces clusters of very fragrant flowers at the leaf axils or at the ends of branches, and these clusters are usually filled with many flowers. The stem that holds the flowers is about 1-7 cm long, and the bracts that surround the flowers are linear, elliptic, or oblong, ranging from 0.8 to 3.5 cm in length. The flowers are about 1.4-3 cm across, and the stalk is 0.5-3 cm long. Petals (techinally sepals) are 4, white, spreading out. They are obovate-oblong to oblong in shape, and are 5-15 by 2-6 mm. The sepals are either covered in a fine layer of velvet-hairy or hairless, with the underside being velvety and the top being hairless. The sepals have a smooth or slightly toothed edge. The stamens are 3-7 mm long and are hairless. The style is 4-7 mm, densely hairy. The leaves are divided into 3-5 leaflets. The leaf stalk is about 2.5-4.5 cm long, and the leaflets are oval to narrowly oval, sometimes shaped like lances, and measure 2.5-8 cm long by 1-4.2 cm wide. The leaves are either papery or somewhat leathery. The base of the leaf is round, heart-shaped, or broadly wedge-shaped, and the edge is smooth or slightly toothed. The tip of the leaf is either pointed or very slightly so. Seedpods are orange-yellow, broadly elliptic to obovate, 4-9 × 2.5-6 mm, appressed velvet-hairy; persistent style 1.2-4 cm, plumose. Sweet Autumn Clematis is native to Eastern parts of China and Russia, and has escaped cultivation and naturalized in many places including India. Flowering: June-August.