The second edition of this classic volume provides comprehensive coverage of over one hundred of the world's major economically significant crop plants and their wild ancestors. The crops featured range from cereals to tropical staples, beans and pulses, vegetables, fruits, cash crops, oil crops and spices. Information on crop evolution is vital in the current effort to understand and conserve biodiversity, and provide a basis for the improvement of plant species. The second edition takes into account the rapid advances made in this field with the advent of new molecular techniques and our ever growing understanding of genetics. Evolution of Crop Plants is an excellent resource for plant breeders and biotechnologists, seed producers, plant pathologists and researchers in agriculture, crop evolution and conservation. For each crop, the book includes a detailed examination of: