CLEMATIS ELISABETHAE-CAROLAE
Family and Genus:- See- RANUNCULACEAE/Sect. CLEMATIS
Common Name:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Clematis, Greek name for several climbing plants.
Elisabethae-carolae (L) Devoted to the nomenclatural author's wife.
General description:- Erect semi-evergreen perennial herb.
Stems:-
1) Scambling to 2 m, tubular, wiry.
Leaves:-
1) Opposite, petiolate;
a) lower, simple.
b) upper, trifoliolate or imparipinnate with 5 leaflets.
c) leaflets, 2-5 x 1cm, ovate, entire, dark green, coriaceous, glabrous.
d) petioles, rarely coiling,
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, terminal, a lax panicle of up to 20 flowers.
2) Bracteoles, free.
3) Flowers, with a sweet fragrance like that of Citrus blossom.
4) Perianth segments, 4, 5-10 mm, ovate, white, crispate-pubescent on the
margins.
5) Anthers, whitish.
Fruit:-
1) A cluster of a few compressed-ovoid, dark brown, pale-villous, achenes.
2) Achenes, 2-3 mm;
a) pappus, to 15 mm, wavy, patent-plumose in the basal half, yellowish-white.
Key features:-
1) Flowers, white.
2) Leaves, 1-pinnate; leaflets, up to 9 cm.
Habitat:- In karstic hollows and fissures otherwise almost devoid of vegetation.
1200-1850 m.
Distribution:- A rare local endemic known only from a few small populations in the
Lefka Ori
Flowering time:- June to mid-July.
Photos by:- Vangelis Papiomytoglou
Status:-
Conservation status (for threatened species): Rare (R) according to IUCN 1997
Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981
Comments
Extract from the the "Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece"
Endangered:- A beautiful perennial known only from two localities in the Levka Ori
in western Crete. It is at risk of eventual extinction because of its extreme rarity
combined with susceptibility to both grazing by sheep and goats, and collecting by
unscrupulous botanists and gardeners. In very small populations, where numbers of
individuals have been reduced to a critically low level, there exists the threat of
complete destruction of the population from sudden environmental catastrophes, or
reproductive collapse due to lack of genetic diversity.
Biology and potential value:- The species would be of scientific value in any
future studies in the genus. Relict endemic species such as this are of interest in
that they provide an insight into evolution and plant geography. Their distributions
are often associated with those of other endemic species. Belonging to sect.
Clematis within the genus, C. elisabethae-carolae is considered by Greuter (1965)
to be a relative of two much more widespread European species: C.flammula and C.
recta.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
