Clematis terniflora DC.
Japanese clematis, Japanese virgin's-bower, Sweet Autumn Clematis, Sweet Autumn Virginsbower
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Clematis terniflora is a plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is native to northeastern Asia. It was introduced into the United States in the late 1800s as an ornamental garden plant, and has naturalized in many of the eastern states. It is considered a Category II invasive plant in north and central Florida and some other eastern states, meaning it is invading native plant communities but is not yet seen as displacing native species.
Text from Wikipedia, “Clematis terniflora”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Clematis
Clematis is a genus of about 380 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids and cultivars have been popular among gardeners, beginning with Clematis 'Jackmanii', a garden staple since 1862. More cultivars are being produced constantly, mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin.
Text from Wikipedia, “Clematis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Clematis crispa Thunb.; Clematis dioscoreifolia H.Lév. & Vaniot; Clematis dioscoreifolia f. denticulata (Nakai) T.B.Lee; Clematis dioscoreifolia var. robusta (Carrière) Rehder; Clematis flammula var. robusta Carrière and 17 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a temperate garden plant by the genus Clematis, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.
Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to September in the northern hemisphere (April to September at the habitat, northern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1128 mm of 1474 mm) falls in April to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 20.3 °C against a yearly mean of 14.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to March.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 1474 mm a year, wettest July at 268 mm, driest December at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1474 mm a year at the habitat, 1128 mm of it April to September. Wettest month July at 268 mm, driest December at 35 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 925 mm to 2236 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 36 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 15 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 37).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor -4.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.0 °C, the absolute minimum -9.2 °C, about 64 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -1.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -13.9 °C to 4.2 °C), warmest day 27.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 68% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 5 / -3–9 | 7 / 0–9 | 10 / 5–13 | 16 / 12–18 | 20 / 17–22 | 23 / 20–26 | 26 / 24–28 | 27 / 25–30 | 24 / 21–26 | 19 / 14–21 | 13 / 6–16 | 8 / 0–11 |
| Night °C | -1 / -14–4 | -0 / -11–4 | 3 / -5–7 | 8 / 2–11 | 13 / 8–16 | 17 / 13–20 | 22 / 18–24 | 23 / 18–25 | 19 / 12–22 | 13 / 5–17 | 7 / -2–11 | 2 / -9–7 |
| Rain mm | 41 / 17–89 | 51 / 17–103 | 87 / 31–168 | 110 / 54–174 | 129 / 80–203 | 179 / 116–284 | 268 / 150–401 | 246 / 135–351 | 196 / 91–280 | 71 / 43–199 | 61 / 35–126 | 35 / 18–73 |
| DLI | 17 / 14–19 | 22 / 20–24 | 28 / 25–30 | 34 / 31–36 | 36 / 32–37 | 34 / 29–36 | 31 / 27–34 | 31 / 27–34 | 26 / 24–28 | 23 / 19–25 | 17 / 15–19 | 15 / 13–17 |
| RH % | 56 / 53–60 | 56 / 53–59 | 57 / 54–60 | 59 / 54–61 | 61 / 56–64 | 65 / 60–69 | 68 / 64–72 | 66 / 63–69 | 63 / 60–65 | 58 / 57–62 | 57 / 55–61 | 56 / 54–60 |
Each figure is the median across the 458 grid cells holding the 531 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1088:6387 (35.575, 139.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 458 distinct grid cells holding the 531 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1088:6387 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 35.50_139.375, lapse-corrected -112 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 121 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Sandy Wolkenberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Tom Norton, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Michael Ellis, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Carrie Seltzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Clematis terniflora, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Albizia julibrissin Japanese Mimosa
Clerodendrum trichotomum Chance Tree
Parthenocissus tricuspidata Boston ivy
Styrax japonicus Japanese snowbell
Hemerocallis fulva Orange Day-Lily
Commelina communis Asian DayflowerOther Clematis 5 in the reference
Clematis armandii Evergreen Clematis
Clematis montana Himalayan Clematis
Clematis virginiana Virginia bower
Clematis vitalba Evergreen clematis
Clematis viticella European purple clematis History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 126 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.