Abstract: (1) In the overwhelming majority of genera of the family Ranunculaceae, includ ing its primitive genera, Caltha, Calathodes, and Trollius and the primitive genus of trib. Anemoneae, Anemone, the sepals are spreading and the stamens are glabrous. So, the as cending or upright sepals and hairy stamens of the sections Meclatis, Tubulosa, Viorna, and Atragene of the genus Clematis are secondary, and are accordingly considered as advanced characters, and those sections and the genus Archiclematis, closely related to Sect. Viorna Subsect. Connatae, more or less advanced groups. (2) In the sections Cheiropsis, Fruticella, and Viticella, which have glabrous stamens,some species have spreading sepals, and the others have ascending or upright sepals. In Sect. Clematis, all the species have spreading sepals and glabrous stamens, except for Clematis pinnata, which has ascending sepals and usually hairy stamen filaments. In Sect. Lasiantha with 2 species restricted to western U. S. A., C. lasiantha has glabrous stamens, while C. paucifiora has stamens hairy on fliaments. In Sect. Naraveliopsis with spreading sepals,the majority of species have glabrous stamens, but one species, C.liboensis, endemic to Guizhou Province, China, has hairy stamens. These facts just mentioned indicate that the evolution of sepals and stamens took place in several lineages independently in Clematis. (3) In Clematis, glabrous stamens of C.apiifolia, C.grata, and C.montana with linear filaments and oblong anthers, are similar to those of Caltha, Calathodes, Trollius, and Anemone. Thus, the linear filaments and oblong anthers are considered primitive characters in Clematis. On the other hand, lanceolatelinear filaments of C. tangutica and C. aethusifolia or oblanceolate -linear filaments of C. courtoisii and C. loureiriana and linear anthers of C. meyeniana and C. uncinata, and narrow-linear anthers of C. courtoisii and C. lanuginosa are considered advanced ones. In ease of stamens with hairs, stamens of C. henryi with densely villous filaments and those of C. kweichowensis with both filaments and anthers densely pubescent show more advanced condition than those of C. pinnata, C. heracleifolia, and C. tangutica, with sparsely puberulous filaments and glabrous antbers(Fig. 1 ). (4)The pedunculate, 2-bracteate dichasial cyme with several flowers may represent the primitive type of inflorescences in Clematis. Manyflowered panicle-like cymes as in C.gouriana and C. tsaii, or few-l-flowered cymes as in C. henryi and C. repens, and cymes lacking peduncles and bracts as in C. montana and C. pogonandra are all considered advanced. Besides, the fact that flowers arise from axillary buds of old branches shows also an advanced condition. (5)Sect. Clematis subsect. Pinnatae, with leaflets, inflorescence ramification, and stamens similar to those of C. heracleifolia, is considered intermediate between Sect. Clematis and Sect. Tubulosa. (6) Subsect. Clematis and Subsect. Rectae, and Subsect. Connatae and Subsect. Crispae are so closely related to each other respectively that it is difficult to ascertain the systematic position of some intermediate species between the two subsections of each pair in the absence of seedlings. So, in the present paper, following the classification of Clematis proposed by Tamura in 1967, I put Subsect. Clematis and Subsect. Rectae in Sect. Clematis, and Subsect. Connatae and Subsect. Crispae in Sect. Viorna. (7)According to the evolutionary tendencies mentioned above, a realignment of the sections and the infrasectional taxa of the Chinese Clematis is made. (8) Six subsections, 6 serise, 2 species, and 4 varieties are described as new, and 5 new combinations, 4 new ranks, and 2 new names are given. (9)The specific rank of C. tenuipes W.T. Wang, reduced to varietal renk in 1980, is restord. C. taiwaniana Hayata, reduced to synonomy of C. grata Wall. in 1991, is considered distinct from the latter in hairy adaxial surface of sepal and narrower achene with tapering apex. C. kerriana Drumm. & Craib and C. laxipaniculata Pei are proved to be conspecific to C. subumbellata Kurz and reduced to syn-onymy.

Key words: Clematis, Evolutionary tendencies, Classification, China