Stems viny, to 4 m, without cobwebby pubescence, nearly glabrous, or moderately pilose-pubescent proximal to nodes. Leaf blade mostly 1-pinnate, some simple; leaflets usually 4-8 plus additional tendril-like terminal leaflet, lanceolate to ovate, unlobed or 2-3-lobed, or most proximal 3-foliolate, 2-12 × 1-5(-6) cm, thin, not conspicuously reticulate; surfaces abaxially sparsely to densely pilose, not glaucous. Inflorescences axillary, 1-7-flowered; bracts well above base of peduncle/pedicel. Flowers broadly urn-shaped to bell-shaped; sepals pale lavender to reddish purple, grading to cream-yellow toward tip, ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3 cm, margins not expanded, very thick, not crispate, tomentose, tips acuminate, recurved, abaxially sparsely to densely pubescent. Achenes: bodies silky-pubescent; beak 2.5-6 cm, plumose. 2 n = 16. Flowering spring-summer. Wooded cliffs and stream banks; 0-1400 m; Ala., Ark., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Md., Miss., Mo., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va. The Fox Indians prepared a drink from the roots of Clematis viorna to use medicinally as a panacea (D. E. Moerman 1986).