Botany, also called plant science(s), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek word botanē meaning "pasture", "herbs" "grass", or "fodder"; botanē is in turn derived from boskein, "to feed" or "to graze". Traditionally, botany has also included the study of fungi and algae by mycologists and phycologists respectively, with the study of these three groups of organisms remaining within the sphere of interest of the International Botanical Congress. Nowadays, botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 species of land plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants (including approximately 369,000 species of flowering plants),and approximately 20,000 are bryophytes. Botany originated in prehistory as herbalism with the efforts of early humans to identify – and later cultivate – edible, medicinal and poisonous plants, making it one of the oldest branches of science. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance. They were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden. These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, and led in 1753 to the binomial system of nomenclature of Carl Linnaeus that remains in use to this day for the naming of all biological species.
Sample Chapter(s)
Preface (56 KB)
Components of the Book:
- Chapter1
Natural and Historical Heritage of the Lisbon Botanical Gardens: An Integrative Approach with Tree Collections
- Chapter2
Understanding the Ethnobotany, Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Distribution of Genus Hydnora (Aristolochiaceae)
- Chapter3
Characterization of the antibacterial activity from ethanolic extracts of the botanical, Larrea tridentata
- Chapter4
Who should conduct ethnobotanical studies? Effects of different interviewers in the case of the Chácobo Ethnobotany project, Beni, Bolivia
- Chapter5
The utility of DNA barcodes to confirm the identification of palm collections in botanical gardens
- Chapter6
Assessment of Soil Contamination with Potentially Toxic Elements and Soil Ecotoxicity of Botanical Garden in Brno, Czech Republic: Are Urban Botanical Gardens More Polluted Than Urban Parks?
- Chapter7
Ferns at the digital herbarium of the Central Siberian Botanical Garden SB RAS
- Chapter8
Applying Biotechnology in the Propagation and Further Selection of Vaccinium uliginosum × (V. corymbosum × V. angustifolium) Hybrids
- Chapter9
Research highlights from the UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research for Women’s Health: Black cohosh from the field to the clinic
- Chapter10
Parallel evolution of arborescent carrots (Daucus) in Macaronesia
- Chapter11
Exploring the floristic diversity of tropical Africa
- Chapter12
Stem and Leaf Anatomy of Aragoa (Plantaginaceae): In Search of Lost Rays
- Chapter13
The worldwide trend of using botanical drugs and strategies for developing global drugs
- Chapter14
Virtual Herbarium ALTB: collection of vascular plants of the Altai Mountain Country
- Chapter15
Vascular plants from European Russia in the CSBG SB RAS Digital Herbarium
Readership:
Students, academics, teachers and other people attending or interested in Botanical Research
Ana Raquel Cunha
Ana Raquel Cunha
1Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food (LEAF), Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda
Ana Luísa Soares
Ana Luísa Soares
2Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO/InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda
Teresa Vasconcelos
Teresa Vasconcelos
4Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa, Cal?ada da Ajuda, 1300-011 Lisboa
Maria Cristina Duarte
Maria Cristina Duarte
5Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
and more...