Clematis 'Dr Mary' / Clematis 'Doctor Mary' (Viorna Group)

Clematis of the Month for October 2026

Described by Wim Snoeijer

Clematis 'Dr Mary'

When you make an herbarium specimen, it means that your movement on a certain date is set for eternity.

I visited Ton Hannink (1947- 2021) at his clematis collection in Drunen, The Netherlands, on Tuesday 16 August 2011 and Ton allowed me to collect material of C. 'Dr Mary' for an herbarium specimen. The plant was clearly labeled as C. 'Dr Mary' and Ton received his plant from Mikiyoshi Chikuma of Japan. Chikuma was the breeder of this plant which meant I was able to choose this herbarium specimen as a NOMENCLATURAL STANDARD, the term used for cultivars as a type specimen. However, the National Herbarium Nederland, today the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, does not acknowledge the term, hence the red TYPE label (photo 1). The specimen is also online at https://data.biodiversitydata.nl/naturalis/specimen/L%20%200820816.

Ton also gave me a plant, and it is still alive today.

Editor's note: The image that Wim provided me with of his herbarium specimen was too large to include on this page. However, if you would like to view it full size, please click Full Sized Herbarium Specimen, but be warned, it is nearly 17 Mbytes large.

In November 2020, Richard Hudson, of Hawthornes Nursery in the UK, sent me a plant of C. 'Dr Mary' and an herbarium specimen made from Richard's plant is held at the Herbarium in Wisley, UK, though it's not online yet.

The two plants in my garden have an annual growth of about 1 meter. The plant is hardly a climber, so I weave the stems through trellis. Sometimes a petiole or petiolule might curl, especially the last part of the rachis (see "Petioled leaves of C. 'Dr Mary'" above). The petioled leaves are simple to pinnate with up to 9 leaflets and also the leaflets have a petiolule. The colour depends on growing and aging but are generally normal to dark green.

The nodding flowers are mainly terminal on a short shoot. In spring, the flower might be 3 cm long (see photo above right) and when the four tepals are not fully curled up, up to 3.5 cm in diameter but narrower when aged. In August, the plant may provide some extra flowers, but are in my garden as less than 1 cm long. The base of the flower is urn-shaped, hence the classification into the Viorna Group.

Urn-shaped flower of C. 'Dr Mary'	Note the various colours of C. 'Dr Mary'
Note the various colours of C. 'Dr Mary'	Silvery and hairy seed tail of C. 'Dr Mary'
The flowers contain nectar	The flowers contain nectar

The colour on the outside of the tepals is a metallic pale violet-purple and slightly darker at the base, the colour on the inside is creamy-green to almost white. The colour of the tepals varies depending on growing in the shade or in full sun. The flowers contain a little bit of nectar.

When the summer flowers appear, the spring flowers have changed into seed heads which are upright, like all Clematis seed heads. The seed tail is a bit silvery and hairy. When the seeds are ripe they will quickly fall off.

The plant is a slow grower. The plant from Ton has 2 stems in 2026 and so does the plant from Richard. Pruning is easy as the stems will die to ground level in winter so the stems can be pruned at ground level in February.

The cultivar was registered in 2009 with the ICRA (International Cultivar Registration Authority) which, for Clematis, is the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK. It was raised by Mikiyoshi Chikuma from Japan in 2003 and named in 2008. Mikiyoshi registered the plant with the ICRA.

The cultivar is published in The International Clematis Register and Checklist 2002, Fourth Supplement on page 20 as Clematis 'Doctor Mary' with no reference to Clematis 'Dr Mary', see https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/plant-register-supplements/clematis/4th-clematis-supplement.pdf. It is strange that Ton, who had his plant directly from Mikiyoshi, grew it as Clematis 'Dr Mary', and Richard also labeled his plant, Clematis 'Dr Mary'.

The naming of cultivars and cultivar groups is regulated by the ICNCP ISHS Scripta Horticulturae number 18. Article 35.9 says that titles can be written in full or abbreviated, which means that both forms, Clematis 'Dr Mary' and Clematis 'Doctor Mary' should be “treated as equivalent epithets” and therefore both forms can be used. However, please note, the abbreviation in 'Dr Mary' is written without a full stop, so, according the ICNCP, 'Dr Mary' is correct and 'Dr. Mary' is not correct.

The name given by Mikiyoshi Chikuma is in honour of Dr Mary Toomey who passed away in 2022. Mary was a Clematarian like no one else and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. In her Clematis period she shared, in a passionate “thunderstorm”, her knowledge, with her loud and warm voice at Clematis meetings and other Societies.

In April 2013, Mary and a friend came over to Holland for a Clematis trip and, together with Jan Fopma (1928-2018) and Ria Stockmann (Clematis 'New Love'), we visited Marginpar near Aalsmeer FloraHolland the Flower Auction. Marginpar is the trader of the Clematis cut flowers grown in Tanzania. In the photo, Mary and Jan are discussing a Clematis in the cut flower testing room at Marginpar.

Dr Mary Toomey and Jan Fopma discussing cut flower clematis.

Wim Snoeijer