The Chinese flora, with an estimated 31,000 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. Descriptions and identification keys for this diverse flora, until now unavailable in English, have been published over the past 14 years in the Flora of China, in conjunction with a separate series, the Flora of China Illustrations. Twenty-six of the total of 49 volumes have already been published, thanks to an unprecedented and long-standing collaboration between Western and Chinese scientists.
Volume 22 of the illustrations series is devoted to one plant family of enormous significance, namely, the grasses (Poaceae or Gramineae). The Poaceae range from the bamboos within the tribe Bambuseae to the widely cultivated rice, wheat, barley, and maize or corn (Oryza, Triticum, Hordeum, and Zea), as well as many grasses used for animal forage, all plants of unparalleled importance to human life. A large proportion of the species of grasses depicted here, including many woody bamboos, occur naturally only in China.