Any scholar interested in the plants or practices associated with vegeculture, past or present, will value the contributions in this volume. It speaks to agricultural issues relevant far beyond the geographic focus indicated by the title, and it addresses a wide variety of taxa from the perspectives of plant physiology, molecular biology, ethnography, archaeology, and agricultural development. Moreover, Japanese scholarship is highlighted, providing an excellent forum for those contributors whose research is not widely disseminated in English. This volume results from a symposium held Nov. 06–09, 2000 at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka
