Purple leatherflower releasing its seeds

Click for greater clarity.

And now here’s a look at a Clematis pitcheri, or purple leatherflower, at the stage where one of the vine’s drying seed cores has loosened its hold on many of its mature seeds and has left only a few still hanging on. Once again you’re welcome to compare this to the much more common Clematis drummondii when it’s at a similar stage.

This picture is the last you’ll be seeing from my visit to Hamilton Pool Preserve on August 19th. The photograph’s background color is from the Pedernales River, which this purple leatherflower vine overlooked from a bluff.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman

Purple leatherflower producing seeds

Click for greater clarity.

In the last posts you saw a slightly open bud and then a flower of Clematis pitcheri, known as purple leatherflower. Now, skipping ahead in the plant’s development, here’s a view of a seed core that’s newly formed, as you can see from its pale green color. You also begin to see the resemblance to the much more common species in central Texas, Clematis drummondii, even if the leatherflower’s strands seem uninterestingly simple by comparison.

This picture is yet another one from my visit to Hamilton Pool Preserve on August 19th. The photograph’s background color is from the Pedernales River, which this purple leatherflower vine overlooked from a bluff.

© 2013 Steven Schwartzman