the chinese flora, with an estimated 31,500 species, is of immense scientific and horticultural importance. noteworthy, too, is chinese traditional medicine, which is based on the remarkable plant resources of the country.de*ious and identification keys for this flora, until now unavailable in english,have been published over thepast 17 years in the flora of china, in conjunction with a separate series, the flora of ckina illustrations. thirty-five of the total of 48 text and illustration volumes have already been published, thanks to an unprecedented and long-standing collaboration between western and chinese scientists.twenty-two plant families are described in this volume. among. these, the araceae include taro (colocasia esculenta) and the horticulturally important genera amorphophauus and arisaema;the pandanaceae include the screw-pines,(pandanus); the areeaceae are the.palms,including the economically important betel nut(areca catechu), coconut (cocos nucifera), and date (phoenix dactylifern) in addition to 77 native species, among which are the chusan or windmill palm (trachycarpus fortunei) and the climbing,spiny rattans (calamus); finally, the cyperaceae,or sedges, comprise two-thirds ofthis volume and include the second largest genus in china, carex, with 527 species.to find out more about the flora of china project, visit the website at http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/