Vine · Ranunculaceae
Devil's darning needles
Clematis virginiana
Devil's darning needles is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,104 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Devil's darning needles at a glance
- Native in
- 1,104 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 15 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Devil's darning needles is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,104 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,104 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 34 counties
- Arkansas 38 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- Florida 8 counties
- Georgia 25 counties
- Illinois 61 counties
- Indiana 48 counties
- Iowa 11 counties
- Kansas 13 counties
- Kentucky 77 counties
- Louisiana 51 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 68 counties
- Minnesota 42 counties
- Mississippi 18 counties
- Missouri 65 counties
- Nebraska 16 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 54 counties
- North Carolina 39 counties
- North Dakota 9 counties
- Ohio 84 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 7 counties
- South Dakota 7 counties
- Tennessee 50 counties
- Texas 5 counties
- Vermont 11 counties
- Virginia 78 counties
- West Virginia 42 counties
- Wisconsin 13 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 15 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Climbing
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 85
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CLVI5
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Clematis virginiana (PLANTS symbol CLVI5).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources