Book excerpt: This unique and beautifully-illustrated book aims to give a comprehensive account of present-day knowledge of the flora of China, one of the most botanically rich of the world's warm temperate regions. In preparing it, the authors have consulted many specialist scholars and numerous research papers, many published only in Chinese.The book contains concise descriptions of all the major groups of seed plants, classified under the Englerian system into 49 orders and 225 families. A key to the families in each order is given, along with an account of their diagnostic characters. The genera within each family and their distribution are discussed and a synoptic key to the Chinese genera provided. Plants of special interest are also mentioned. Two appendices detailing the plants according to the Cronquist system of classification are included for completeness. The text is augmented throughout by more than 150 handsome line drawings.