This 743-page book gives one-paragraph descriptions by crop specialists, of hundreds of U.S. and some Canadian fruit, nut, and berry cultivars plus tropical fruits, as well as of rootstocks developed in the 20th century to graft them onto. For tree fruits, it gives their ancestry, place of origin, the discoverer or breeder, descriptions of tree form, cold hardiness, disease resistance, pollination requirements, ripening time, fruit size, color, flavor, texture and much else. It covers fruits introduced from about 1920 to 1997, both those in current production and those that are obsolete, as well as rootstocks for fruit and nut trees. For serious fruit hobbyists or collectors, fruit breeders, and horticulturists it is of extreme value, probably the most-used reference of any in my library of horticultural reference books.--Robert Purvis, Horticulturist, M.S.; Chair, Apricot Interest Group, North American Fruit Explorers.

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