Clematis aristata

Dioecious, woody climber or trailer, ascending into forest canopies to 15 m high or more. Leaves opposite; juvenile leaves simple, usually purplish with whitish streaks along the main veins; adult leaves ternate, uncommonly biternate or simple; petioles often twining or twisting around other stems etc.; leaflets ovate to narrow lanceolate, mostly 3–8 cm long, 1–5 cm wide, glabrous or young leaflets hairy beneath, usually dull; margins variably serrate, rarely entire. Flowers in short panicles, less commonly solitary and long-pedunculate; sepals white or cream, oblong, lanceolate or oblanceolate, 15–35 mm long, glabrous to densely pubescent; male flowers with anthers 2–3.5 mm long, each with a subulate terminal appendage 1–2 mm long; female flowers sometimes with staminodes. Achenes flattened, obliquely ovate to obovate 4–6 mm long, variably pubescent or glabrous; awn plumose, 2–4.5 cm long. Flowers mainly Sep.–Nov.