BookStephanie L. Greene, Karen A. Williams, Colin K. Khoury, Michael B. Kantar, Laura F. Marek, editors.
Summary: The plant species that humans rely upon have an extended family of wild counterparts that are an important source of genetic diversity used to breed productive crops. These wild and weedy cousins are valuable as a resource for adapting our food, forage, industrial and other crops to climate change. Many wild plant species are also directly used, especially for revegetation, and as medicinal and ornamental plants. North America is rich in these wild plant genetic resources. This book is a valuable reference that describes the important crop wild relatives and wild utilized species found in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The book highlights efforts taken by these countries to conserve and use wild resources and provides essential information on best practices for collecting and conserving them. Numerous maps using up-to-date information and methods illustrate the distribution of important species, and supplement detailed description on the potential value these resources have to agriculture, as well as their conservation statuses and needs. There is broad recognition of the urgent need to conserve plant diversity; however, a small fraction of wild species is distinguished by their potential to support agricultural production. Many of these species are common, even weedy, and are easily overshadowed by rare or endangered plants. Nevertheless, because of their genetic proximity to agriculturally important crops or direct use, they deserve to be recognized, celebrated, conserved, and made available to support food and agricultural security. This comprehensive two-volume reference will be valuable for students and scientists interested in economic botany, and for practitioners at all levels tasked with conserving plant biodiversity. The chapters 'Public Education and Outreach Opportunities for Crop Wild Relatives in North America' and 'Genetic Resources of Crop Wild Relatives - A Canadian Perspective' are open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.
Contents:
Securing economically important wild plant species in North America
Sampling wild species to conserve genetic diversity
Practicalities of collecting
Challenges of storing seed of wild species
Seed production in wild species
In situ strategies to conserve genetic resources
Canada
USA
Mexico
Indigenous
Forging partnerships
Maize
Beans
Grain and cereal crops
Leafy or stem vegetables
Root, bulb or tuberous vegetables
Fruit bearing vegetables
Temperate small fruits
Grape
Temperate tree fruits
Nut
Tropical tree fruits
Sunflower
Industrial crops
Forage and turf
Revegetation species
Herbaceous ornamentals
Woody ornamentals
Aromatics
Medicinal.