Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
In message , "[H]omer" writes

I'm not in a hurry to learn everything on day one, but I'd feel more
comfortable with an authoritative and comprehensive reference,
esp. WRT British wild plants, that seems lacking in literature (that I
could find anyway).


Clive Stace, New Flora of the British Isles. You should be able to find
a copy in a library near you.

That is the definitive guide to wild plants, but difficult to cope with
unless you are a good botanist as it is basically a giant key with very
few illustrations. You can easily fall off the key early on and never
get near an identification.

I've learnt an awful lot from the Fitter books. Wild Flowers of Britain
and Northern Ireland is more compact, and covers just 'flowers.' Wild
Flowers of Britain and Ireland is larger, includes grasses, ferns and
horsetails. It also has distribution maps, which is incredibly useful -
if the species you're looking at isn't found where you are, then you've
got the identification wrong - and if the species is rare, you are
probably wrong too!

Chris Baines 'How to make a wildlife garden' is good for growing wild
flowers.

Alan Mitchell for trees.

Roger Phillips for fungi coupled with a guide with a better key and
drawings rather than photos - I have the one by marcel Bon, and another
which i can't lay my hands on atm.
--
Kay