Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Traveller's-Joy

TRAVELLER's-JOY, Honesty, Virgin's Bower, or Great Wild-Climber, Clematis Vitalba, L. a hardy, indigenous shrub, growing in hedges and shady places, in calcareous soils, where it flowers in June and July.—It is easily propagated by layers or cuttings.

The fibrous stalks of this vegetable may be converted into paper:—the whole plant is very acrid to the touch; on which account it is frequently employed as a caustic, and for cleansing old ulcers.—Both leaves and branches may, with advantage, be used in dyeing; and Dambourney obtained from the latter alone a yellow decoction.—Bechstein observes, that the hard, compact, yellow, and odoriferous wood of this shrub, furnishes an excellent material for veneering.