Weeds: The Story of Outlaw Plants
Ever since the first human settlements 10,000 years ago, weeds have dogged our footsteps. They are there as the punishment of 'thorns and thistles' in Genesis and, two millennia later, as a symbol of Flanders Field. They are civilisations' familiars, invading farmland and building-sites, war-zones and flower-beds across the globe. Yet living so intimately with us, they have been a blessing too. Weeds were the first crops, the first medicines. Burdock was the inspiration for Velcro. Cow parsley has become the fashionable adornment of Spring weddings.
Weaving together the insights of botanists, gardeners, artists and poets with his own life-long fascination, Richard Mabey examines how we have tried to define them, explain their persistence, and draw moral lessons from them. One persons weed is another's wild beauty.
Richard Mabey is Britain's foremost nature writer, and the author of Flora Britannica, which won a British Book Award, and Birds Britannica. He has a regular column in BBC Wildlife magazine and has written extensively on nature for the national broadsheets.
Author: Richard Mabey
Format: Paperback, 336 pages, 128mm x 196mm, 240 g
Published: 2012, Profile Books Ltd, United Kingdom
Genre: Natural History: Plants
Ever since the first human settlements 10,000 years ago, weeds have dogged our footsteps. They are there as the punishment of 'thorns and thistles' in Genesis and, two millennia later, as a symbol of Flanders Field. They are civilisations' familiars, invading farmland and building-sites, war-zones and flower-beds across the globe. Yet living so intimately with us, they have been a blessing too. Weeds were the first crops, the first medicines. Burdock was the inspiration for Velcro. Cow parsley has become the fashionable adornment of Spring weddings.
Weaving together the insights of botanists, gardeners, artists and poets with his own life-long fascination, Richard Mabey examines how we have tried to define them, explain their persistence, and draw moral lessons from them. One persons weed is another's wild beauty.
Richard Mabey is Britain's foremost nature writer, and the author of Flora Britannica, which won a British Book Award, and Birds Britannica. He has a regular column in BBC Wildlife magazine and has written extensively on nature for the national broadsheets.