Book review

Abstract

Plum is a significant temperate fruit and a very important fruit species in Hungary as well. Cultivation has moved beyond the area boundaries of the Northern Hemisphere many centuries ago. Domestic (European) plum production has been particularly affected by the pandemic-scale destruction of the Sharka virus and worldwide breed changes. According to FAOSTAT (2016) data, world plum production is 12 million tones, with 36% from Eurasian, 63% from Japan and other Asian varieties. The share of American plums is only 1%. Domestication and dissemination of plums is „multi-stepped” because homemade (taste) plums are hybrids of two nature species in the first place, but Japanese plums (hybrids with Chinese plums or Prunus cerasifera) are not uniform; the role of the American plum species is much smaller, though their prospects cannot to predict with certainly. The book consists of 19 chapters, finding a complex way of summing up linguistic, historical, floristic, historical-botanical, cultivation, and morphological and anatomical knowledge.