Richard Mabey has published upwards of thirty books on natural history topics, mostly botanical, of which this is the latest. This is a non-scholarly account of some of the commonest wild plants, termed "weeds" in the sense that their chosen sites are frequently inconvenient to man, either in agriculture or horticulture.  The book is full of interesting statements, and there is a very short reference section, but unfortunately the majority of these statements are not referenced, so no possibility of following up or checking for accuracy.  And some of the unreferenced facts offered are, to my own knowledge, incorrect; sorry.  The (untitled) drawings preceding  each chapter are attractive but of dubious relevance.  Moreover, I hope I'm not being picky here if I say that if you choose to use lay or dialect names for plants, you better make sure that your Glossary of botanical names covers all of them (it doesn't:  I've checked) because the common English (never mind Welsh, Scottish or Irish) names for a plant can be legion.  The benchmark for scholarly treatment in this kind of popular work is still Geoffrey Grigson's The Englishman's Flora, even if it was first published in 1958, which is probably why it is still in print.

Nevertheless the book is fun to read and might make an acceptable present for a recipient who is a keen gardener or enjoys spotting flora while out walking.