Botany - Profile
“Botany is the branch of Biology that deals with the study of plants.”
The term ‘botany’ is derived from an adjective ‘botanic’ that is again derived from the Greek word ‘botane’. One who studies ‘botany’ is known as a ‘botanist’.
Plants are the major source of life on earth. They provide us with food, oxygen and a variety of raw materials for various industrial and domestic purposes. That is why humans have always been interested in plants since time immemorial.The Greek scholar Theophrastus was one of the early Botanists of the world. He is also known as the “Father of Botany” due to his major writings on plants. One of his books called “Enquiry into Plants” classified the plants based on the geographical ranges, sizes, uses and growth patterns. The other work called “On the Causes of Plants” explained the economics of growing plants.
It is the study of organisms and environmental conditions that are responsible for causing diseases in plants, the mechanisms by which the disease occurs, and the methods of controlling plant diseases.Plant ecology studies the distribution of plants, how do the environmental factors affect plants and the interaction between plants and other organisms.This is the branch of botany that deals with the recovery and identification of plant fossils, thereby, studying the evolutionary history of plants.
Plants are an integral part of human life. They are used in various aspects of day to day lives. Botany studies the characteristics and uses of these plants and hence are very important.
- Botany deals with the study of different kinds of plants, its uses and characteristics to influence the fields of science, medicine and cosmetics.
- Botany is the key to the development of biofuels such as biomass and methane gas that are used as alternatives to fossil fuels.