Clematis martini H. Léveillé; C. vitalba subsp. gouriana (Roxburgh ex de Candolle) Kuntze; C. vitalba Linnaeus var. gouriana (Roxburgh ex de Candolle) Finet & Gagnepain; C. vitalba var. micrantha H. Léveillé & Vaniot.

Vines woody. Stems 3--5 m; branches longitudinally 5-grooved, puberulous, glabrescent. Leaves pinnate, 5-foliolate; petiole 1--7 cm, sparsely puberulous to subglabrous; leaflet blades ovate, narrowly ovate, or lanceolate, 2.4--10.5 × 1.2--5.5 cm, papery to subleathery, both surfaces glabrous or only sparsely puberulous on midveins, base rounded to subcordate, margin entire or rarely 1-denticulate, apex attenuate to acuminate; basal veins abaxially prominent. Cymes axillary or terminal, 9--100-flowered; peduncle 1.2--7 cm; bracts simple or foliaceous, triangular to ovate, 4--10 mm. Flowers 7--10 mm in diam. Pedicel 6--12 mm, puberulous. Sepals 4, white, spreading, narrowly obovate to obovate-oblong, 5--6 × 1.8--2 mm, abaxially usually densely puberulous, adaxially sparsely puberulous, margin abaxially velutinous, apex obtuse to truncate. Stamens 3--4.5 mm, glabrous; anthers narrowly oblong, 1.1--1.5 mm, apex obtuse. Ovaries pubescent. Style 3--3.8 mm, densely villous. Achenes lanceolate to fusiform, 3--3.5 × 1--1.5 mm, appressed puberulous; persistent style ca. 2 cm, plumose. Fl. Sep--Oct, fr. Nov--Dec.

Slopes, scrub, along streams; below 100--1800 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, W Hubei, W Hunan, Sichuan, C to W Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sikkim].