THE SCIENCE OF BOTANY 3 



Plant Morphology is concerned with the form and structure of 

 plants. Its object is to describe the construction and organiza- 

 tion of the plant body and to trace underlying similarities in 

 form between various plant groups. Under morphology are 

 included Anatomy, dealing with internal structure in general; 

 Histology, with the more minute internal structures; Cytology, 

 with the structure of the cell; Embryology, with the development 

 of the individual, and Experimental Morphology, with the causes 

 which determine form and structure. 



Plant Physiology is concerned with the functions of plants. 

 Its objects are to describe and explain the various activities 

 by which the life of the plant is maintained and transmitted to 

 its offspring. Physiology obviously underlies the other sub- 

 divisions of botany since it touches the very process of hving. 

 A branch of physiology particularly active today is Genetics, 

 which deals with the problems of inheritance. 



Aside from these three major sub-sciences there are other 

 fields of botany which deserve mention. Plant Ecology is con- 

 cerned with the relations between plants and the various fac- 

 tors of their environment such as soil, chmatic conditions and 

 living organisms; and, in particular, with the modifications of 

 structure and function which enable them to react successfully 

 to changes in their surroundings. Ecology necessarily involves 

 both morphology and physiology, as well as certain of the phys- 

 ical sciences. Plant Geography is concerned with the geographical 

 distribution of plants, and is intimately related both to systematic 

 botany and to ecology, as well as to geology and geography. 

 Palaeobotany is concerned with the structure and relationships of 

 fossil plants, and thus touches systematic botany, morphology, 

 and geology. 



In addition to all these aspects of botany, most of which are 

 theoretical rather than practical in their bearing, we should not 

 fail to mention the great group of sciences concerned with the 

 utilization and culture of plants. Economic Botany, in its nar- 

 rower sense, is a study of those plants which are valuable to 

 man and of the uses to which they are put. The various sciences 

 commonly grouped under Agriculture {Soil Science, Agronomy, 

 Horticulture, Plant Pathology, and many others) together with 

 Forestry, Pharmacology and their subsidiaries, are eminently 

 practical, and their close relationship to botany is sometimes 

 overlooked. They are nevertheless integral parts of our science, 



