Botany and its scope in Pakistan

Botany:

    The word "Botany" springs from an ancient greek word βοτάνη (Botane), which suggests "pasture", "herbs," "grass", or "fodder. The term "βοτάνη" is, in turn, comes from the Greek word βόσκειν (boskein), which means "to feed" or "to graze".

     Actually, Botany is the branch of biology that deals with the scientific study of plants. The study involves all plants' like organisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, ferns, lichens, mosses along with actual plants initially. But later, it was concluded that bacteria, algae and fungi belong to different kingdoms. The one who studies botany is called a botanist.

Father of botany:

    The greek scholar "Theophrastus" (one of the oldest known botanist) is often regarded as the "Father of botany" due to his following two major writings on plants.

1. Enquiry into Plants (Classified plants on geographical patterns).
2. On the causes of plants (explained economics of growing plants).

Some other famous scientists of Botany:

• Dioscorides wrote, “De Materia Medica” (an encyclopedia about herbal plants).
• Robert hook (invented the compound microscope).
• Robert Brown (Discovery of the nucleus)
• Carolus linnaeus (Bonomial Nomenclature)
• Greger Mendel (Principle of genetics)
• Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (Encouragement of charles' and darwin's theories)
• Ferdinand Cohn (studied algae, bacteria and fungi)
• Frederick Edward Clements (the early study of plant communities)
• Martinus W. Beijerinck (Discipline of virology)
• William Jackson Hooker (first director of the Royal Botanic Garden.)

Branches of Botany:

On basis of biology subcategory:

    Botanists may study:

• Plant anatomy
• Plant genetics
• Molecular Biology
• Cytology (the study of cells-- plant cells in this case)
• Ecology
• Biophysics
• Biochemistry
• Palaeobotany (Study of plant fossils)
• Plant taxonomy
• Physiology
• Microbiology

On basis of types of plants:

    Botanists can also concentrate on studying a selected sort of organism, including:

• Bryology (the study of mosses and liverworts)
• Lichenology (the study of lichens)
• Mycology (the study of fungi)
• Phycology (the study of algae)
• Pteridology (the study of ferns)

Applied plant sciences:

    These categories are often related to the application of plants like agriculture. They include:

• Agronomy (crop and soil science)
• Food science
• Forestry
• Horticulture (the production of ornamental plants and crops)
• Natural resource management
• Plant breeding and genetics
• Plant pathology (the study of plant diseases)

Jobs of botanists in Pakistan:

    Following are some departments in which a botanist can find his career after graduation:

• The agricultural department of Pakistan
• Research centres
• Plant protection department
• Agriculture companies
• Conservation agencies
• Horticulture department
• Forest department
• Teaching profession
• Environmental consultancy
• Molecular biologists
• Nursery managers
• Florist