Since the publication of the first edition of Guide to the Flowers of Western China in 2011, there have been great strides in knowledge of the flora of China through international collaboration. Many plants included in the first edition have been revisited in the wild, while areas hitherto inaccessible have opened up, if sometimes only temporarily. Great advances in systematic botany have occurred since the publication of the first edition, particularly with widespread availability of rapid DNA analysis. The result of this has been an influx of new photographs and data, and the need for a second edition of Guide to the Flowers of Western China.