Clematis japonica Thunberg var. urophylla (Franchet) Kuntze; C. urophylla var. obtusiuscula C. K. Schneider.

Vines woody. Branches shallowly 4--8-grooved, puberulous. Leaves ternate; petiole 2.5--6 cm; leaflet blades ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 5--10 × 2--5 cm, papery, both surfaces sparsely appressed puberulous, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or subcordate, margin denticulate to sometimes subentire, apex acuminate; basal veins abaxially ± prominent. Cymes axillary, 1--3(--5)-flowered; peduncle 0.3--3.5 cm, sometimes nearly absent, glabrous or puberulous; bracts short petiolate, ovate, and 1.4--3 cm or subulate and ca. 2 mm. Flowers 1.6--3 cm in diam. Pedicel 1.8--4 cm, densely puberulous. Sepals 4, white, suberect, oblong to ovate-oblong, 2--2.8 × 0.6--0.9 cm, abaxially appressed puberulous, adaxially puberulous only near apex, margin abaxially velutinous, apex ± acute. Stamens 0.9--1.6 cm; filaments villous; anthers narrowly oblong to oblong, 1.5--3 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse. Ovaries pubescent. Style 0.8--1.2 cm, densely villous. Achenes fusiform, 3--4 × ca. 2 mm, puberulous; persistent style 4.5--5 cm, plumose. Fl. Nov--Dec, fr. Mar--Apr.

* Forests, slopes, scrub; 400--2000 m. N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, SW Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan.