WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Like a string of ornaments, reddish-purple to pinkish-white, urn-shaped flowers decorate this low-climbing vine that sprawls across bushes and boulders with weak stems that can reach 12-feet long. Note the coarse network of veins of the leaflets, and the long, vining stems reaching 3–12 feet long.

FLOWER: May–July. Four leathery, united, petal-like sepals form 1-inch long (2.5 cm), nodding urns with the tips curled back. The seed head develops into a spherical cluster of 1/2–1-inch (12–25 mm) long tails.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blade compound, bright-green; 3–5 leaflets along midrib, each oval to lance-shaped, sometimes cut into 3–5 lobes and highly variable in size and shape; leaflets 2–4-inches long (5–10 cm) by 2-inches wide (5 cm) and have a noticeable network of veins on bottom.

HABITAT: Rocky limestone, clay loam soils of stream sides, canyons, rocky outcorps; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,800–6,700 feet.

RANGE: AR, IL, IA, KS, KY, MO, NM, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 7 species of Clematis in NM, 3 with reddish-purple leatherflowers. Hairy Clematis, C. hirsutissima, and Leatherflower, C. bigelovii, both are erect to low-sprawling (not vining) plants.

NM COUNTIES: Infrequent, southern half of NM in low- to mid-elevation habitats: Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Otero, Torrance, Union.