I have been after one for a while having admired it on Madeira in the
Autumn, today a gardening friend has turned up with one! I know very little
about its needs. I am expecting it to be tender but before repotting, what
sort of soil is preferred? and in this country how much sun to keep it
happy? So anyone already growing this got any advice?

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

The message
from "Charlie Pridham" contains these words:

I have been after one for a while having admired it on Madeira in the
Autumn, today a gardening friend has turned up with one! I know very little
about its needs. I am expecting it to be tender but before repotting, what
sort of soil is preferred? and in this country how much sun to keep it
happy? So anyone already growing this got any advice?

Not growing it but from the American 'Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture'

" The Dichorisandras are usually handled as warmhouse subjects, although
some may be plunged in the open ground south of Phildephia. D. thyrsiflora
is a satisfactory plant of unusual and interesting appearance, which requires
little attention once well established, and may be relied upon to flower
regularly
year after year. It needs careful repotting every year at first until a
good-sized
pot (say 8") is well filled with roots. ... "

.... and after all that it does not say what sort of compost.

.... but from Sanders Enclopedia of Gardening - 1952 edition (bg)

"Compost, one-third each of peat, loam and leaf-mould and a little
silver sand. Position, pots in shady part of Stove House. Pot in March.
Water freely March - Oct., moderately afterwards. Syringe daily in
spring and summer.

Temperature March - Oct. 75 - 85, Oct. - March 55 - 65.

Propagation By seeds in Spring; division in March."

Good Luck ... Jennifer