This series is dedicated to the Father of the Green Revolution, the late Dr Norman E. Borlaug. It provides a wealth of information about crop wild relatives in ten volumes ranging from cereals to forest trees. The specific volume reviewed here addresses wild relatives of cultivated millets and grasses – small-seeded Poaceae grown as cereals, forages, ornamentals and/or turf.

In 16 well-organized, genus-specific chapters (Agrostis, Bromus, Cenchrus, Cynodon, Dactylis, Dichanthium, Eleusine, Eragrostis, Festuca, Lolium, Panicum, Paspalum, Pennisetum, Phleum, Setaria and Zosia), the 48 eminent authors nicely summarize available information for each genus in tables, text and figures, with accompanying references. For each genus, the chapters comprehensively review the status, origin, distribution, morphology, cytology, genetic diversity and available genetic and genomic resources of wild crop relatives, and relate this to available information on their domesticated counterparts. Evolution, phylogenetic relationships, genetic erosion and conservation efforts, potential for domestication and exploitation in crop improvement are all addressed. Individual chapters are well presented, although several would have benefited from more thorough copy-editing.

While the series can be recommended to public- and private-sector agricultural research institutions globally, this specific book will also be greatly appreciated by graduate students and research scientists concerned with genetic resource conservation and improvement of small-seeded grasses cultivated as cereals, forages, ornamentals and/or turf crops, and those dealing with control of related weeds.