What Are The Branches Of Botany And Their Meanings?

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Botany is defined as being the scientific study of plant life. It is known to be split up into five main subcategories which are:

• Plant anatomy: An area of botany which focuses the internal structure of plants, concentrating on mature structures and their origin, development and evolution.
• Dendrology:  An area of botany which studies trees, shrubs and other woody plants.
• Plant morphology: An area of botany which focuses on the external structure and appearance of plants, namely their visual characteristics.
• Plant physiology: An area of botany which focuses on the function (or physiology) of plants such as their daily functions and processes.
• Phytopathology (plant pathology): An area of botany which studies the disease and disease-causing pathogens that affect plants. Environmental conditions such as pollution are studied too.

Other branches of botany include:

• Agrostology: A branch of botany which studies grasses.
• Bicarpellatae: A branch of botany which studies 'bicarpellatae' plants - a group based solely on Bentham and Hooker's classification system. The plants involved are gamopetalae and dicotyledons.
• Bryology: A branch of botany which studies bryophytes such as liver worts and mosses.
• Calyciflorae: A branch of botany which studies 'calyciflorae' plants - similar to bicarpellatae in that they are based on an artificial grouping system. The plants involved are polypetalae and dicotyledonous.
• Disciflorae: A branch of botany which studies the same plants involved in calyciflorae but is based around the old second artificial classification system.
• Ethnobotany: A branch of botany which focuses on the relationship between plants and humans and how plants are perceived amidst different classes of people and cultures.
• Ethnolichenology: A branch of botany similar to ethnobotany but focuses on lichens specifically.
• Micropaleontology: A branch of paleontology which studies microfossils.
• Paleobotany: A branch of paleontology which focuses on the recovery of plant fossils and their evolutionary steps across the ages.
• Paleoethnobotany: A branch of archaeology which focuses on the remains of plant fossils found in archaeology sites and the discovery of how such plants were used in society and agriculture in the past.
• Palynology: A branch of earth science which studies palynomorphs (very small particles), in particular spores and pollen found from contemporary sources or fossils.
• Pomology: A branch of botany which studies 'pome' fruit, although it has been used in reference to the study of all fruits.

Gamopetalae, heteromerae, monochlamydae and thalamiflorae are all classifications and group divisions used in Bentham and Hooker's classification system and so should not be treated as a branch of botany despite many sources claiming that they are.

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