{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Urophysa henryi leaves.jpg |image_caption = ''Urophysa henryi'' |taxon = Urophysa |authority = Ulbr.<ref name="POWO"/> }}
'''''Urophysa''''' is a genus of perennial flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, endemic to China.<ref name="POWO"/>
==Description== ''Urophysa'' are perennial herbaceous plants with robust, more or less woody rhizomes. The basal leaves have three leaflets with long stalks which have a sheath at the base. The plants usually produce several scapes. The inflorescences form umbels with 1–3 flowers, each with five blue (or sometimes pinkish-white in ''U. henryi'') sepals and five petals. The petals have either a small sac or a short, hooked nectar spur at the base. The flowers have smooth stamens, ellipsoid anthers, and around seven staminodes. The seeds are densely wrinkled.<ref name="eFloras"/>
==Taxonomy== ===Taxonomical history=== The genus ''Urophysa'' was named by the German botanist Oskar Eberhard Ulbrich in 1929. Ulbrich reclassified the plant previously named ''Semiaquilegia henryi'' and ''Isopyrum henryi'' as ''Urophysa henryi'' in this new genus, and also described another species, ''U. rockii'', in the same paper.<ref name="POWO"/><ref name="Ulbrich-1929"/>
===Etymology=== The genus name ''urophysa'' is derived from Greek ''οὐρά'' "tail" and ''φῦσα'' "bladder, swelling, inflated, bellows", referring to the small sacs (or short nectar spurs in the case of ''U. rockii'') at the base of the petals.<ref name="Ulbrich-1929"/><ref name="Gledhill-2006"/>
===Subdivision=== ''Urophysa'' comprises two accepted species:<ref name="POWO"/> {{Species list | Urophysa henryi | (Oliv.) Ulbr. | Urophysa rockii | Ulbr. }}
==Distribution and habitat== ''Urophysa'' is endemic to southern China. Both species occur in Sichuan,<ref name="eFloras-henryii"/><ref name="eFloras-rockii"/> while ''U. henryi'' is also native to Guizhou, western Hubei and northwestern Hunan provinces.<ref name="eFloras-henryii"/>
==Conservation== {{As of|2025|January}}, neither species has been assessed for the IUCN Red List.<ref name="IUCN"/>
==Ecology== Both species of ''Urophysa'' flower from March to April.<ref name="eFloras-henryii"/><ref name="eFloras-rockii"/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="eFloras">{{eFloras | 2 | 134233 | Urophysa | family = Ranunculaceae | first1 = Fu | last1 = Dezhi |first2 = Orbélia R. |last2 = Robinson | access-date = 11 January 2025 }}</ref> <ref name="eFloras-henryii">{{eFloras | 2 | 200008286 | Urophysa henryi | family = Ranunculaceae | first1 = Fu | last1 = Dezhi |first2 = Orbélia R. |last2 = Robinson | access-date = 17 December 2024 }}</ref> <ref name="eFloras-rockii">{{eFloras | 2 | 200008287| Urophysa rockii | family = Ranunculaceae | first1 = Fu | last1 = Dezhi |first2 = Orbélia R. |last2 = Robinson | access-date = 18 December 2024 }}</ref> <ref name="Gledhill-2006">{{cite book |last1=Gledhill |first1=David |title=The names of plants |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0521866456 |edition=4th. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJ6PyhVuecwC |accessdate=13 January 2025}}</ref> <ref name="IUCN">{{cite web |title=Ranunculaceae — family |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?taxonomies=102021&searchType=species |website=IUCN Red List |access-date=11 January 2025}}</ref> <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |title=''Urophysa'' Ulbr.. |id=33260-1 |accessdate=11 January 2025}}</ref> <ref name="Ulbrich-1929">{{cite journal |last1=Ulbrich |first1=Oskar Eberhard |title=Ranunculaceae novae vel criticae VIII |trans-title=New or Revised Ranunculaceae VIII |language=German |journal=Notizblatt des Botanischen Gartens und Museums zu Berlin-Dahlem |date=1929 |volume=10 |issue=99 |pages=867–871 |doi=10.2307/3994810|jstor=3994810 }}</ref> }}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q593826}} {{Portal bar|Biology|Plants|China}}
Category:Urophysa Category:Ranunculaceae genera Category:Taxa named by Oskar Eberhard Ulbrich