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Virgin's Bower is a member of the Clematis genus, in turn a part of the rather large Buttercup Family. I'll bet there are a few local gardeners with beautiful Clematis vines on their mailboxes who didn't know that we have at least 8 native species of our own. True, the native Clematis vines aren't nearly as showy, except perhaps in late fall - then the blooms become clouds of lighter-than-air fluff, just waiting for a puff of wind to carry off the seeds. (These clusters of "hairs" are sometimes called Old Man's Beard.)You might be driving along a lowland road, and see a large mass of these seedheads engulfing some old tree stump. Like many kinds of vines, it can overcome a small area with dense growth. The summer flowers are very unimpressive - small, white flowers composed of four sepals and no petals. Another species of Clematis is the Leather Flower (C. viorna), so called because the flowers are composed of four maroon-colored, thick sepals that resemble leather. I have only seen Leather Flower growing in very rich cove woods.