This book is intended as ‘a standard reference text for students, extension workers, farmers, horticulturalists. . .’. It does not cover ornamentals (except, oddly, Ribes sanguineum). Treatments comprise origin and history; botany; cultivars, uses and constituents; ecology and agronomy but not pests and diseases.

Ecology and agronomy go out-of-date slowly, if at all, but the authors have not entirely succeeded in keeping up-to-date with information on crop origins. Errors occur in some of the botanical descriptions. The fruit of quinoa is not a utricle; Piper flowers lack a corona; ergot is characterized by dark sclerotia, not sclerotinia; capsaicin is produced only in the placentas of Capsicum fruit, not the seeds. Descriptions are not always comparable: lemon seeds are described as polyembryonic but this feature is not mentioned for other citrus species. There are also many taxonomic errors. Even molecular systematists have not transferred Carica to the Acanthaceae. Few would divide hexaploid wheat into three species. If Fagopyrum esculentum really evolved from Fallopia convolvulus, this would be the only current example of a domesticated species originating from a different genus. The myrrh brought to the infant Jesus was gum resin of Commiphora, not the European herb Myrrhis odorata. Regrettably, statements are not referenced in the text. Finding the original source for any statement is the single bibliography is thus an almost insuperable task.

It may seem nit-picking to concentrate on errors in a wide-ranging and beautifully produced book, but surely a ‘standard reference text’ needs to be accurate above all.