Clematis is the quiet show-off of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae: a genus of roughly 300–350 species of mostly twining vines and shrublets found across the temperate world, with just a handful naturally occurring in southern Africa.

From delicate climbers that lace through shrubs, to free-standing “feather duster” bushes crowned in silky seedheads, Clematis combines toughness with a very elegant, almost romantic look. Many species are valued globally for their ornamental flowers and their decorative, feathery fruits, and several have a long history of traditional medicinal use in Africa and Asia.

Our indigenous Clematis – including Clematis brachiata, C. hirsuta and C. villosa – are perfectly adapted to South Africa’s summer-rainfall climates. They cope with heat, wind, frost and poor soils, yet still manage to smother themselves in blooms and shimmering seed tails that catch the light like spun silver.

For the gardener or smallholder who loves naturalistic plantings, they are ideal for softening fences and wires, spilling over rocks, colonising sunny slopes and tying together shrubs and grasses into a single, airy tapestry.

Clematis do best when their roots are kept cool and shaded while their stems can reach into the sun – the classic “feet in the shade, head in the sun” recipe.

Grown from seed, they reward patience with long-lived, characterful plants that feel authentically wild and uniquely African, yet look refined enough for any town garden or modern landscape.

Clematis hirsuta

Clematis hirsuta is an African woody climber, native from Cape Verde and the Sahel across much of tropical Africa into the south-west Arabian Peninsula, where it grows in seasonally dry woodland, thicket and forest margins.

It is indigenous to South Africa in the north-eastern parts of the country and is sometimes treated under forms of Clematis oweniae in older literature.

Synonyms you may see in botanical references include Clematis incisodentata and several infraspecific varieties of C. hirsuta; locally in parts of central Africa it has vernacular names such as “gumba” and “kiakala”, but no widely used English common name has become established.

This species forms a small climbing shrub up to about 4 m high, with rough, hairy (hirsute) young stems and pinnate leaves usually divided into five or more leaflets.

The foliage gives the plant a slightly shaggy, informal look that suits wild or woodland-style gardens. The flowers are carried in loose, branched panicles; each bloom is starry and delicate, with pale cream to white or yellowish segments, and they appear mainly in the warm growing season after rains.

These are followed by typical clematis seedheads – small achenes with persistent feathery styles that catch the light and help the seed drift on the wind.

Clematis hirsuta has a long record of use in African traditional medicine, particularly in East Africa, where leaf and stem preparations are used for a range of ailments – a reminder that this ornamental climber is also part of local cultural history.

In South African gardens it is best given a sturdy shrub, fence or small tree to scramble through in a warm, summer-rainfall climate, with good drainage and a cool, mulched root run. From seed you can expect variable, vigorous plants that lend an authentic “bush” feel to naturalistic plantings while still providing pretty flowers and feathery fruits for interest through the growing season.