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 var. junodii

Clematis hirsuta var. junodii is a South African variety of C. hirsuta, recognised as indigenous and formerly treated as Clematis oweniae var. junodii in older floras.

It has no well-established English common name and is usually simply referred to by its botanical name. The variety is of particular interest to local gardeners because it represents a form adapted to the cooler, higher-rainfall escarpment regions of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, where it occurs in Afromontane forest fragments, kloofs and bushy slopes.

In appearance, var. junodii shares the overall look of C. hirsuta: a woody, twining vine with pinnate leaves and rather shaggy, hairy young growth. The foliage tends to be finely and irregularly toothed, reflecting the “incisodentate” look that has given rise to some of the historical names around this group.

The flowers are small but produced in airy sprays, with creamy to pale yellowish segments and the softly feathery seedheads typical of the genus. The plants are summer-growing and respond to seasonal moisture, flowering mainly in the warmer months.

For South African buyers, seed of C. hirsuta var. junodii offers the chance to grow a truly local, regionally distinct form of this African Clematis. It is well suited to cooler, mist-belt gardens and sheltered inland sites where it can weave through indigenous shrubs, along fences or into small trees, adding seasonal flower sprays and delicate seed tails. Provide a well-drained, humus-rich soil, regular water in summer, and a cool, mulched root zone, and this variety will reward patience with a quietly beautiful, wild-looking climber that feels at home in naturalistic plantings.