Clematis viticella

Clematis viticella
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Clematis
Species:	C. viticella
Binomial name
Clematis viticella L.

Clematis viticella or "Virgin's Bower", is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family; it is native to Europe. The climber was the first clematis imported into English gardens, where it was already being grown in 1569 by Hugh Morgan, Apothecary to Queen Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen".^[1] By 1597, when it was already being called "Virgin's Bower", there were two varieties in English gardens, a blue (actually a purple-blue) and a red.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Clematis".
2. ^ Centuries later, the red C. viticella was a parent of the best-known hybrid clematis, Clematis × jackmanii (Coats [1964] 1992).