Weeds and Aliens by Salisbury, Sir Edward - 1961

London: Collins, 1961. First edition. Illustrated, pp 384, green cloth with very slight blemishes on the upper cover, a duplicate from East Malling Research Station with their stamp on the front endpaper and a label on the spine otherwise very clean internally. [How and why a well-managed garden plant or an introduction from abroad will suddenly become an aggressive weed. This is a work of the first importance by the leading authority on the subject. For though Sir Edward Salisbury was best known for his thirteen years’ work as Director of Kew, and for his outstandingly successful gardening books, he has accumulated over years of study a first-hand knowledge of our weed flora that is certainly unique. Weeds and Aliens was the result of half a century of observation and curiosity; it is likely to remain for a long time to come a standard work for botanists, farmers, gardeners and naturalists alike. The history and geography of British weed flora and effects on them of social or agricultural changes, the distribution of weed seeds - by birds or aeroplanes, in grain cargoes or trouser turn-ups - every aspect is fully and clearly explained, with the biological peculiarities of the different species always in mind. The idea that because weeds are a nuisance they must also be dull is dispelled in a few pages. Not only does the author show that an understanding of these criminals of the plant world will make their control both easier and more interesting: he also imparts to the reader something of his own delight and wonder.. First Edition. Cloth. Good.