Raised by Morel in France in 1899. A well known classical clematis. Strong growing and free flowering habit, it will produce early flowers from the previous season's ripened stems and a very good crop of summer flowers. Unfortunately the lower foliage burns up by mid summer and the lower part of the plant becomes bare and unsightly. This clematis must therefore be grown through other evergreen shrubs to hide this unfortunate problem. The 10-12cm (4-5in) wide flowers are very dramatic and colourful. The six overlapping tepals are rounded and have blunt tips, giving a round appearance to the flower. The tepal colour is a bright crimson red with a wide deepish pink central bar, which is overlaid by darker veins. Contrasting yellow anthers.