Clematis afoliata or leafless clematis is endemic to the North and South Islands, and is found in Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and south Wellington coast in the north, and Marlborough and Canterbury in the south. It grows in lowland to montane areas from sea-level to 560m asl., in dry, rocky, open, sunny places, shrubland and scrub. It grows and forms bushy masses of long, curving, sprawling, tangled stems on dry rocky, and open ground, or climbing through shrubs, and sometime trailing down banks and cliffs. Its green or yellow-green stems that can grow up to 3m long are round in cross-section with longitudinal grooves, hairless, and cling to each other and surrounding vegetation with coiling tendrils. Small leaves can be found on the tendrils, but occasionally a few tiny, simple leaves can be found on the tips of young plants or those growing in the shade. It has attractive scented, bright greenish yellow flowers from September to November, but mostly in October, often in great profusion on both male and female plants. The female flowers are noticeably smaller, and are followed by ball-like clusters of plumed seeds from December to February, March.   Not threatened although in some regions the open rocky habitats are subject to development pressure. Competition with naturalised plants also poses a threat to regeneration of this plant in some areas.