''Sycopsis'' is a genus of plants in the family

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...

native to southern central

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Characteristics

''Sycopsis'' are evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs or small trees. Their leaves are leathery and their flowers have no petals.

Species

The genus ''Sycopsis'' contains two species: ''

Sycopsis sinensis ''Sycopsis'' is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae native to southern central China and Taiwan. Characteristics ''Sycopsis'' are evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs or small trees. Their leaves are leathery and their flowers have no p ...

'' and ''

Sycopsis triplinerva ''Sycopsis'' is a genus of plants in the family Hamamelidaceae native to southern central China and Taiwan. Characteristics ''Sycopsis'' are evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubs or small trees. Their leaves are leathery and their flowers have no p ...

''.

Etymology and naming

''Sycopsis'' is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and means ‘fig-resembler’ because the person who named the genus, Daniel Oliver, thought its appearance resembled a shrubby ''

Ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family (biology), family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few spe ...

''. The

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

vernacular name for this genus is 水丝梨属 (Shuǐ sī lí shǔ).

References

Flora of China Flora of Taiwan Endemic flora of China Hamamelidaceae genera Hamamelidaceae {{Saxifragales-stub