Can you ID this flower?

Factual Questions
1

I don’t have a picture yet, but I’ll try to describe it well:

It has 5 or 6 petals that are a very billiant purple. The petals together make a pentagon or hexagon shape. In the center is a bright yellow ball with many thin stamen (hair-like) sprouting out from it.

The plant it grows from is ivy-like, with very thin stalks.

I saw two or three of these growing on mailboxes or constructed trellaces in the Washington, DC area (McLean, VA and Bethesda, MD), blooming within the last week (June 10-16).

Does anyone have an idea what the name of these flowers is?

2

Oops, I forgot to mention. The flowers are about 4-5" (10-12 cm) across.

3

[urk=http://home.att.net/~bowlesk3/Volume3/MallowBushN9a.jpg]Like this?

4

Sounds kinda like a clematis of some sort.

5

Grrrrrrrr! Fixed link.

6

Good attempt, QED, but not quite. The purple is a very deep, brilliant purple. The petals are more angular. And the stamen cluster is bright yellow. But thanks for your insight.

7

Clematis site

8

It looks like it probably is a clematis. The pictures on Flowerweb show many varieties of it (aka Virgin’s Bower), much like columbines.

I’ll have a picture tomorrow to make a final judgement. Thanks, Sqerticus!

9

Clematis or passionflower, probably clematis, possibly a crossbreed of varieties.

What shape is the leaf?

10

The collage on their splash page has a bloom in the lower left that looks a great deal like the ones I saw. Also, they say it’s a flowering vine, which seems to cement the ID.

11

Jack Mani Clematis is what I have growing outside and it looks like what you described.

12

Here are several sample pictures of the flower, from three different houses:
Flower that forms a full hexagon
Flowers growing all over porch railing
Array of flowers that are 4- and 5-petal variety

But they do appear to be clematis. I’m surprised I’ve not noticed them before. I’d love to grow a trellace-full along a side of my house. :slight_smile:

13

Clematis it is.

Gorgeous it is. I gotta get me one of those.

14

One lady I talked to that a good plant should cost about $20. She’s had the same plant for 20 years, and it re-blooms every year. She just cuts it back to about 24 inches every season.

I was going to ask her for a cutting that I might try to root. But when she told me their price, I figured the question was out the window.

15

I ordered a different clematis from this place a few years ago. While they arrived with well-developed root systems, it still took a year or two before they really took off. I suppose anyone charging $20 would have a bigger, older plant.

Still, I think I will order some of these.

Nice photography, by the way, AWB.

16

Thanx!

I took my digital camera along one day to get the pix before the flowers lost their bloom.

(They’re doing so now :frowning: I can see the centers fully. I thought that I might be able to take one of them to plant, but I’m not sure if fertile seeds develop in the flowers.)

17

It has 5 or 6 petals that are a very billiant purple. The petals together make a pentagon or hexagon shape. In the center is a bright yellow ball with many thin stamen (hair-like) sprouting out from it.

The plant it grows from is ivy-like, with very thin stalks.

Sounds like a Climatus to me. :slight_smile: