《Flora of China24》:Volume 24 of the Flora of China is the sixth of a 25-volume work. It includes 22families, 131 genera, and 1335 species, of which six genera and 652 species （nearly half）are endemic to China. The families treated are: Flagellariaceae （one species）, Restionaceae（one species）, Centrolepidaceae （one species）, Xyridaceae （one genus, six species）,Eriocaulaceae （one genus, 35 species）, Bromeliaceae （one species）, Commelinaceae （15genera, 59 species）, Pontederiaceae （two genera, five species）, Philydraceae （one species）,Juncaceae （two genera, 92 species）, Stemonaceae （two genera, eight species）, Liliaceae （57genera, 726 species）, Amaryllidaceae （ten genera, 34 species）, Taccaceae （two genera, sixspecies）, Dioscoreaceae （one genus, 52 species）, Iridaceae （three genera, 61 species）,Musaceae （three genera, 14 species）, Lowiaceae （one genus, two species）, Costaceae （onegenus, five species）, Zingiberaceae （20 genera, 216 species）, Cannaceae （one species）, andMarantaceae （four genera, eight species）.

Volume 24 is formatted in the same manner as the first five volumes of the series: vol.17 （1994）, vol. 16 （1995）, vol. 15 （1996）, vol. 18 （1998）, and vol. 4 （1999）.

Nicholas J. Turland edited the Costaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaceae, and Zin-giberaceae; Anthony R. Brach edited the following genera in the Liliaceae: Hemerocallis,Heteropolygonatum, Heterosmilax, Hosta, Lilium, Maianthemum, Polygonatum, Smilax,Tricyrtis, and Veratrum; Robert A. DeFilipps edited the Commelinaceae; Bruce Bartho-lomew, assisted by Orb61ia R. Robinson, edited the remaining 16 families. Nicholas J.Turland carded out the nomenclatural checking, the final, overall editing and, together withIhsan A. A1-Shehbaz, Amy McPherson, and Diana Gunter, the final proof reading. NicholasJ. Turland compiled the index to scientific names; and Zhu Guanghua （朱光华） compiledthe Chinese, pinyin, and family indexes. Michael G. Gilbert provided help with making thedescriptions consistent in several genera. Rosemary Tanaka entered the final corrections,made numerous improvements to the front and end matters, and typeset the entire volumefor publication.

The seventh volume in the series （vol. 8） will treat eight families, including the largeBrassicaceae （ca. 450 species）, Crassulaceae （ca. 250 species）, and Saxifragaceae （ca. 500species）.