Canadian botanist Gerald A. Mulligan was, from 1978 to 1987, the Director of Agriculture Canada's Biosystematics Research Institute at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. His story provides a window, rarely glimpsed by the general public, into the world of science and the inspiring work carried out by federal scientists despite the complex and manipulative bureaucracy under which they must labour. Mulligan, a complex and fascinating character, was by turns a superb athlete, an unexpected university student, a world-famous research scientist, a tough but supportive manager, and an incorruptible thorn-in-the-side of high-ranking bureaucrats and unproductive scientists. In private life, he is an Irish-French Canadian, a life-long stutterer, a caring family man, and nineteen-year caregiver to his wife of 60 years. Ultimately, The Real Weed Man tells the tale of a botanist who met and triumphed over the opportunities and challenges of life and left a lasting legacy in science and government.