The fluffy seedheads of Clematis vitalba were prolific when I took a walk in Sussex last week. Old Man's Beard is one of the common names of this plant, I remember being interested/amused by this description when I was very little.
 One of the nice things about writing this diary is that it prompts me to research the subjects in greater detail. For example I knew C. vitabla is also known as Traveller's Joy but I didn't know that it was John Gerard the sixteenth century herbalist who noted its habit "of decking and adorning waies and hedges, where people trauell" and goes on to say "thereupon I have named it the Traueilers Iioe."