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photo credits: Wikimedia Commons
Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), 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 βοτάνη (botanē) meaning "pasture", "herbs" "grass", or "fodder"; βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν (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 – plants that were edible, poisonous, and possibly medicinal, making it one of the first endeavours of human investigation. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants possibly having medicinal benefit. 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. In the 19th and 20th centuries, new techniques were developed for the study of plants, including methods of optical microscopy and live cell imaging, electron microscopy, analysis of chromosome number, plant chemistry and the structure and function of enzymes and other proteins. In the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with contributions and insights from most other areas of science and technology. Research topics include the study of plant structure, growth and differentiation, reproduction, biochemistry and primary metabolism, chemical products, development, diseases, evolutionary relationships, systematics, and plant taxonomy. Dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which study the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botanical research has diverse applications in providing staple foods, materials such as timber, oil, rubber, fibre and drugs, in modern horticulture, agriculture and forestry, plant propagation, breeding and genetic modification, in the synthesis of chemicals and raw materials for construction and energy production, in environmental management, and the maintenance of biodiversity. Source: Wikipedia (en)
Works about botany 147
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Flora of the Southeastern United States (Weakley)
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Native Plants of Aotearoa
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L'Oasis
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RHS The Gardener's Botanical
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Index of Eponymic Plant Names
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An Introduction to Mushroom Production in Nigeria
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Inventaire illustré de fleurs
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Inventaire illustré des arbres
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Highgrove Florilegium
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Natural history of Rangitoto Island, Hauraki Gulf, Auckland, New Zealand
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Den nya nordiska floran
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The Botanical Ark
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Lehrbuch der Botanik für Hochschulen
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Guía para la Identificación de Cactáceas Amenazadas de México
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The Secret Life of Nature
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Géants au pied d'argile
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Die Flora des Nahegebietes und Rheinhessens
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Unkräuter in der Agrarlandschaft locken blütenbesuchende Nutzinsekten an
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dictionnaire de botanique
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Legumes of Bahia
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Gülle - Mais - Bodenfruchtbarkeit: wissenschaftliche Informationstagung am 15. und 16. Dezember 1983 in der Univ., Osnabrück, Abteilung Vechta
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The Secret Life of Plants
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Flore vivante de l'Afrique Occidentale Française
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Nova Guinea
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Les Chênes: Monographie du genre Quercus
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A textbook of general botany
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Upper Thames and Little Barrier Island
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Motutaiko Island, Loranthus discovery at Waihi and Tokaanu (near Taupo)
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A Census of New South Wales Plants
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Beiträge zur Flora und Pflanzengeographie Australiens.
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Nuttige Planten van Nederlandsch-Indie
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Plantae Wilsonianae
Subject - wd:Q441