INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY
Botany is the scientific study of plant life and development. It covers a wide range of
scientific disciplines that study plants, algae, and fungi including: structure, growth,
reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and
evolutionary relationships between the different groups.
Study of plants is one of the oldest sciences which began with efforts to identify edible,
medicinal and poisonous plants.
Scope and importance of botany
Plant life can be studied from different perspectives, from the molecular, genetic and
biochemical level through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, plant
populations, and communities of plants.
A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of human societies as it allows us
to:
• Produce food to feed an expanding population
• Understand fundamental life processes
• Produce medicine and materials to treat diseases and other ailments
• Understand how environmental changes can affect plant products
Human nutrition
Nearly all the food we eat comes (directly and indirectly) from plants. Plants are the
fundamental base of nearly all food chains. Botanists also study how plants produce
food we can eat and how to increase yields and therefore their work is important in
mankind's ability to feed the world and provide food security for future generations.
Fundamental life processes
Plants are convenient organisms in which fundamental life processes (like cell division
and protein synthesis) can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals
or humans. The genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by Gregor
Mendel, who was studying the way pea shape is inherited.
P. AKOTH SBT 2110 BOTANY 2024
, Subdisciplines of Botany
• Agronomy—Application of plant science to crop production
• Bryology—Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts
• Economic botany—Study of plants of economic use or value
• Ethnobotany—Relationship between humans and plants
• Forestry—Forest management and related studies
• Horticulture—Cultivated plants
• Lichenology—The study of lichens
• Paleobotany—Fossil plants
• Palynology—Pollen and spores
• Phycology—Algae
• Phytochemistry—Plant secondary chemistry and chemical processes
• Phytopathology—Plant diseases
• Plant anatomy—Cell and tissue structure
• Plant ecology—Role of plants in the environment
• Plant genetics—Genetic inheritance in plants
• Plant morphology—Structure and life cycles
• Plant physiology—Life functions of plants
• Plant systematics—Classification and naming of plants
P. AKOTH SBT 2110 BOTANY 2024
Botany is the scientific study of plant life and development. It covers a wide range of
scientific disciplines that study plants, algae, and fungi including: structure, growth,
reproduction, metabolism, development, diseases, chemical properties, and
evolutionary relationships between the different groups.
Study of plants is one of the oldest sciences which began with efforts to identify edible,
medicinal and poisonous plants.
Scope and importance of botany
Plant life can be studied from different perspectives, from the molecular, genetic and
biochemical level through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals, plant
populations, and communities of plants.
A good understanding of plants is crucial to the future of human societies as it allows us
to:
• Produce food to feed an expanding population
• Understand fundamental life processes
• Produce medicine and materials to treat diseases and other ailments
• Understand how environmental changes can affect plant products
Human nutrition
Nearly all the food we eat comes (directly and indirectly) from plants. Plants are the
fundamental base of nearly all food chains. Botanists also study how plants produce
food we can eat and how to increase yields and therefore their work is important in
mankind's ability to feed the world and provide food security for future generations.
Fundamental life processes
Plants are convenient organisms in which fundamental life processes (like cell division
and protein synthesis) can be studied, without the ethical dilemmas of studying animals
or humans. The genetic laws of inheritance were discovered in this way by Gregor
Mendel, who was studying the way pea shape is inherited.
P. AKOTH SBT 2110 BOTANY 2024
, Subdisciplines of Botany
• Agronomy—Application of plant science to crop production
• Bryology—Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts
• Economic botany—Study of plants of economic use or value
• Ethnobotany—Relationship between humans and plants
• Forestry—Forest management and related studies
• Horticulture—Cultivated plants
• Lichenology—The study of lichens
• Paleobotany—Fossil plants
• Palynology—Pollen and spores
• Phycology—Algae
• Phytochemistry—Plant secondary chemistry and chemical processes
• Phytopathology—Plant diseases
• Plant anatomy—Cell and tissue structure
• Plant ecology—Role of plants in the environment
• Plant genetics—Genetic inheritance in plants
• Plant morphology—Structure and life cycles
• Plant physiology—Life functions of plants
• Plant systematics—Classification and naming of plants
P. AKOTH SBT 2110 BOTANY 2024
