This is an original oil painting on portrait canvas of the Clematis Flower.
Clematis is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners beginning with Clematis x jackmanii, a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars are being produced constantly. They are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin. Most species are known as clematis in English, while some are also known as traveller's joy a name invented for the sole British native, C. vitalba by the herbaslist John Gerard, virgin's bower for C. viticella, old man's beard, applied to several with prominent seedheads, leather flower or vase vine for the North American Clematis viorna.
The genus is composed of mostly vigorous, woody, climbing vines/lianas. The woody stems are quite fragile until several years old. Leaves are opposite and divided into leaflets and leafstalks that twist and curl around supporting structures to anchor the plant as it climbs. Some species are shrubby, while others like C. recta, are herbaceous perennial plants. The cool temperate species are deciduous, but many of the warmer climate species are evergreen. They grow best when their roots are shaded but their tops are in full sun.
They are generally acid-intolerant calciphytes that grow on limestone and other basic soils. Clematis species are mainly found throughtout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, rarely in the tropics. Clematis leaves are food for the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, including the Willow Beauty.