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| Life form: |
| Phanerophyte, shrub |
| Stems: |
| Prostrate, climbing, tendrils; branched, hirsute |
| Leaves: |
| Opposite, entire, dentate or serrate |
| Flowers: |
| Cream, white |
| Fruits / pods: |
| Dry indehiscent fruits, achene |
| Flowering Period: |
| January, February, November, December |
| Habitat: |
| Mediterranean maquis and forest |
| Distribution: |
| Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon |
| Chorotype: |
| Mediterranean |
| Summer shedding: |
| Perenating |
Derivation of the botanical name:
Clematis, clema, Κλημα (Greek), "vine; branch"; atis, -ατιϛ, substantive suffix for nouns: diminutive; climbing plants.
Cirrhosa, cirrhus, cirrus, "curl, ringlet, tuft of hair, tendril"; osus, adjective suffix for nouns: plenitude or notable development; with lots of tendrils, curls.
- The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
Clematis cirrhosa is native to the Mediterranean region of southern Europe and northern Africa. Its flowers are nodding, cup-shaped, borne singly or in clusters. It is one of two evergreen Clematis species (the other is C. armandii).
- Theophrastus (370 BCE — ca. 285 BCE), Enquiry into plants, V.ix.6, gives the name of atrhragene to the plant, and according to Sprengel (Kurt Polycarp Joachim, 1766-1833), the athragene is the Clematis cirrhosa of Linnaeus, the French Clématite à vrilles.
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The Herbal of Dioscorides the Greek (ca.40-ca.90 CE): Klematis Etera - (suggested: Clematis cirrhosa — Evergreen Clematis; Clematis angustifolia —Virgin's Bower; Clematis alpina — Alpine Clematis) poisonous
There is another clematis which sends out a vinelike
branch, reddish, flexible; the leaf extremely sharp to
the taste and ulcerating. It winds around trees like smilax
[4-144, 4-145]. The seed of this (pounded into small pieces
and taken as a drink with water or honey water) drives
phlegm and bile downward. The leaves (applied as a
poultice) drive away leprosy. They are preserved with
lepidium [2-205] to eat with meat [vegetable]. It is also
called epigetis, the Egyptians call it phylacuum, and the
Romans, ambuxus.
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