Old mans beard

Family: Ranunculaceae
Scientific name: Clematis microphylla
Description: Plant Form: Woody climbing shrub. Size: Climbing to about 3 m high. Stem: Woody, scrambling. Leaves: Compound of 3 leaflets with 2 opposite and 1 larger central leaflet up to 5 cm long. Flowers: Creamy-white with 4 long petal-like structures giving an X shape, along with a circular segment in the middle where fruit form. Fruit and Seeds: Form from the centre of spent flowers, simple dry fruit with very long downy hairs attached to top which form beard-like white masses surrounding heads. Habitat: This native vine inhabits a variety of ecosystems including forests, woodlands, urban bushland, gullies, riparian areas, coastal scrub. Distinguishing Features: Has generally smaller and narrower leaflets than other lookalike Clematis species, except for Fine leaved clematis (Clematis leptophylla) which has much smaller leaves. Impacts: Note - this is a native plant Weed Status: Non-weedy native lookalike Weed Type: Lifeform: Woody/tree

Example images for this weed