Which clematis is this? The small pale green flowers offer a clue
Your photograph shows a clematis with small, pale green flowers and masses of buds on thin, dark stems. Those features do much to distinguish it from the familiar large-flowered varieties.
This is a golden clematis: a variety or closely related type within the Clematis tangutica group. The small flowers with four floral segments, pale green to faintly yellow colouring, rounded buds and airy growth fit that group much better than the large-flowered clematis.
The flower appears to have only recently opened in the photograph, so it has not yet taken on its full shape. As it opens further it usually becomes more clearly yellow, often followed by the decorative silvery seedheads familiar from golden clematis.
The features that support this
- Small flowers with four floral segments
- Pale green to yellow colouring, rather than white, pink, blue or purple
- Many buds on the same stem at once
- Thin, somewhat dark flower stalks and a light, informal habit
It is not unusual for this kind of clematis still to be flowering or in bud in Sweden in September. For a firm identification of the exact variety, the best confirmation comes once the flowers have opened further or the seedheads develop. The group, however, is already fairly clear here.
Sources and images 1
- Original reader contribution ↗Reader question