Clematis viticella

Clematis viticella, the Italian leather flower, purple clematis, or "Virgin's bower", is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family; it is native to Europe. The climber was the first clematis imported into English gardens, where it was already being grown in 1569 by Hugh Morgan, apothecary to Elizabeth I of England. By 1597, when it was already being called "Virgin's Bower", there were two varieties in English gardens, a blue (actually a purple-blue) and a red.