Part of a 14-volume flora produced by the National Parks Board Singapore, volume 7 covers the order Poales. The order has 16 families of which only five are native in Singapore and two are naturalised. Of the five native families, Poaceae and Cyperaceae are large and found throughout the world in a wide range of habitats, Eriocaulaceae is primarily tropical but with some species in temperate regions, Xyridaceae is also chiefly tropical but extends into the temperate southern hemisphere and Flagellariaceae is a tropical and subtropical Old World family. The two introduced and naturalised families are Mayacaceae, which is native to tropical and subtropical America and Angola, and Typhaceae, which is a largely temperate family. Globally, the Poales has about 1073 genera and about 23,500 species. In Singapore, there are 84 genera, of which 16 are known only from introduced species, and 238 species, of which 46 are casual or naturalised introduced species. At 19% of the total, this is a particularly high percentage of introduced species. The accounts of the families in the Poales have relied on a combination of expertise in Singapore Botanic Gardens, along with collaboration fi-om the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, and Naturalis in Leiden. The Flora of Singapore aims to describe the more than 3,000 native, naturalised and casual species of plants in Singapore. Botanists have been collecting and studying the plant diversity of Singapore for over 200 years, but never before has there been a comprehensive consolidation of all major plants groups only for Singapore. As of now, over 100 experts have committed to contribute to the project, more than half of which are based outside of Singapore. With the rigorous approach taken to ensure taxonomic and nomenclatural accuracy, the Flora of Singapore will be of interest to anybody studying the plant diversity of Singapore.