The growing global concern over the diminishing food base that mainly relies on three crops—wheat, rice, and maize—has prompted the need to encourage new crops that can adapt to changing food habits, lifestyles, and climate change. Among these, underutilized horticultural crops are gaining attention worldwide. The prestigious journal HortScience, in its Volume II review of Underutilized and Underexploited Horticultural Crops, highlighted their global value. This series emphasizes the nutritional values, ecological compatibility, and optimal use of natural resources such as water, energy, space, and time for these crops. Volume 4 specifically focuses on edible plant foods in Africa, including African Leafy Vegetables, Amaranths, Chilies, Annual Drumstick, Clove bean, Cluster bean, Curry leaf, Ivy Gourd, Snap melon, Sweet Gourd, Teasle Gourd, Tree-borne vegetables, Fruits of North Eastern Region, Dragon Fruit, Wood apple, Strobilanthes, Seed Spices, Yam bean, and Trees for Energy. The twenty chapters in this volume have been compiled by esteemed scientists in their respective crops. The fourth volume envisions a world free from hunger and under-nutrition, filled with health and wellness.

K.V.Peter: Former VC and Presently Professor of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur 680 656, Kerala, India

1. Edible Plant Foods in South Africa: New Light from Ancient dwellers Dawn Young blood Underexploited Vegetables: 2.  African Leafy Vegetables John Van Densburg, W.S. and H.J. Varster 3.  Amaranths Van den Hever, E. and S.L.  Venter 4.  Chillies Anu, A. and K.V. Peter 5.  Annual Drumstick Prabhakar, M. and S.S. Hebbar  6.  Clove bean Salikutty Joseph  7.  Cluster bean Renugadevi, J., V. Vijayageetha and P. Srimathi  8.  Curry leaf Salikutty Joseph 9.  Ivy Gourd Li-ju Lin and C.G. Kuo 10.  Snapmelon Dhillon, N.P.S.  11. Sweet Gourd Joseph John, K. and L.K. Bharathi 12.  Teasles Gourd Joseph John, K. 13. Tree borne vegetables  Maurya, I.B. and Jitendra Singh Underexploited Fruits: 14.  Underexploited fruits of North Eastern Region Patel, R.K., Akath Singh, D.S. Yadav and L.C. Des 15.  Dragon fruit Pushpakumara, D.K.N.G. and H.P.M. Gunasena 16.  Wood apples Shukla, S.K. and A.K. Singh  Underexploited Ornamentals 17.  Strobilanthes: Promising Indigenous ornamental plants from Western Ghats, India-Anitha, K., Shijo Joseph and S. Narendra Prasad  Underexploited Spices: 18.   Underexploited seed spices - ajowan, anise, black caraway, caraway, celery, dill, nigella and parsley Suresh K. Malhotra Underexploited Tuber Crops: 19.  Yam bean Mukhopadhyay, S.K., Rajib Nath and W. Sen Underexploited Agro-Forestry Crops: 20.  Underexploited trees for energy Felix Francis, K. Sudhakara and K.V. Peter