Botany for Agricultural Students 
CHAPTER I 
THE NATURE OF BOTANY 
Botany is a branch of Biology which includes all of the sciences 
that deal with living things. Zoology, Bacteriology, Human 
Anatomy and Physiology are some other biological sciences that 
are familiar and closely related to Botany. 
The word botany comes from a Greek word, bosko, meaning, 
“Teat.’ Botany was originally the science of things good to eat, 
and in its naming the fact was recognized that plants are the 
source of our food. Of course at the present time Botany studies 
all kinds of plants which include besides the many useful for 
food, many useful as medicine, and many that are poisonous. 
Botany is commonly defined as that science which treats of 
plants. This definition is not entirely satisfactory because it 
does not separate Botany from such agricultural subjects as 
Horticulture, Forestry, and Farm Crops which also treat of 
plants. 
Between Botany and those agricultural subjects which study 
plants, there is no‘sharp division line. Much of the work in 
these agricultural subjects is based upon the principles of Botany. 
Such features as plant structures, plant functions, and relation 
of functions to sunlight, air, soil, etc., which are studied in Botany, 
are features of consideration in Horticulture, Forestry, and Farm 
Crops. Although Botany and these agricultural subjects study 
many plant features in common, the latter subjects differ from 
Botany in studying only special groups of plants, and in limiting 
the study to the practical and economic phases of plants. 
A plant may be studied in a number of different ways. It may 
be considered in reference to structure, functions, and in relation 
to other plants. Botany is divided into a number of subjects 
which consider different phases of plant life. 
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