What is Botany?
[[File:Plant study - quadrats and line transects (6987006283).jpg|thumb|Plant study {{ndash}} quadrats and line transects]] '''Botany''' is the study of [[plants]]. It is a [[science]]. It is a branch of [[biology]]. It is also called plant biology, and sometimes phytology. Scientists who study botany are called botanists. They study how plants work. == Branches of botany == *[[Agronomy]]—Applying plant science to crop production *[[Bryology]]—Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts *[[Forestry]]—Forest management and related studies *[[Horticulture]]—Cultivated plants *[[Micropaleontology]]—Pollen and spores *[[Mycology]]—Fungi *[[Paleobotany]]—Fossil plants *[[Phycology]]—Algae *[[Phytochemistry]]—Plant chemical processes *[[Phytopathology]]—Plant diseases *[[Defence against herbivory]] *[[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 taxonomy|Plant systematics]]—Classification and naming of plants (listed by plant type) === Recent trends === University departments of botany are often now merged into a wider group of specialities, including [[cell biology]], [[genetics]], [[ecology]], [[cytology]], [[palaeontology]] and other topics. This gives students and research workers access to a wider education and a wider range of research techniques. == Notable botanists in date order == * [[Theophrastus]] ~371 BC Eresos~287 BC (aged 83 or 84) Athens. [[Hellenistic]] philosopher, wrote books, systematized botanical descriptions. *[[Al-Dinawari]] (828–896), Kurdish botanist, historian, geographer, astronomer, mathematician, and founder of [[Arabic botany]]. * [[Ibn al-Baitar]] (d. 1248), Andalusian-Arab scientist, author of one of the largest botanical encyclopedias. *[[John Ray]] (1627–1705) was an English naturalist, the father of English natural history. *[[Carl Linnaeus]] (1707–1778), Swedish botanist, physician and