Clematis villosa subsp. stanleyi

Done flowering in rocky Gauteng grass, this Clematis villosa subsp. stanleyi bush appears like a tiny Christmas tree decorated only with white woolly fluff-balls.

There is every chance that this old grass will burn before the end of winter, taking the above ground remains of the flowered plant with. Hopefully some seeds will make it to germination. The fruitlets of this plant are single-seeded and dry. The plant itself is very likely to survive the common fires, resprouting multistemmed from its subterranean rootstock (Germishuizen and Clarke, 2003; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw).