MadSci Network: Botany |
Botanists are more likely to study the basic taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, physiology, etc. of wild plants, the model plant Arabidopsis or cultivated plants. Horticulturists study how to grow or cultivate fruits, vegetables, cooking herbs, spices, medicinal plants, lawns, cut flowers, houseplants, Christmas trees, landscape trees, shrubs, vines and other ornamental plants, bonsai, plantation crops such as rubber and tea, etc. Horticulturists may also study basic taxonomy, anatomy, morphology, biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, physiology, etc. of cultivated plants. The rules separating botany and horticulture are not always that strict. People with Ph.D.'s in Botany sometimes work in Horticulture Departments and vice-versa. Much more than in the past, botanists tend to emphasize potential practical applications of even very basic research in order to justify government funding. There is even a trend away from the term botany and toward terms such as plant biology and plant science, presumably because many people do not know what botany is. If you like to grow plants more than just study them, then you might be more interested in horticulture. Horticulture is an applied science. Botany is more of a basic science although botany research can be applied as in economic botany and ethnobotany. Most botanists do research and teaching. Most horticulturists grow plants or plant products for sale or maintain plantings in botanic gardens, arboreta, private estates, parks, etc. Horticultural scientists also do research, teaching and extension. Some topics are more horticultural than botanical because they are very important in plant cultivation. Examples include soil amendments, container soils, soil pasteurization, fertilizers, greenhouses, asexual plant propagation, hydroponics, plant pathology, pesticides, plant entomology, irrigation technology, plant breeding, weed control, phytoremediation, post-harvest physiology of fruits and vegetables, applications of plant hormones and chemical growth regulators to crops, creation of transgenic crops, etc. Some mainly botanical topics would be plant ecology, pollination ecology of wild plants, seed dispersal mechanisms, dendrochronology, effects of invasive plants on native plant populations, plant fossils, wild plant classification, plant evolution, plant biochemical pathways, plants in archeology, palynology, plant anatomy, etc. If botany is defined broadly as the scientific study of plants, as in the first reference, then horticulture is a subdiscipline within botany. Horticulture is one of three applied crop sciences within the field of plant agriculture. The other two are forestry and agronomy. There are some overlaps. The study of urban trees is sometimes termed urban forestry and sometimes is included within urban horticulture. Similarly, grass cultivation for lawns, athletic fields and golf courses is sometimes included under agronomy and sometimes under horticulture. The first reference lists lots of subfields within botany. The main crop subfields within horticulture are pomology (fruit crops), enology (grapes and wine production), olericulture (vegetable crops) and ornamental horticulture (cultivation of ornamental and landscape crops). Ornamental horticulture is also divided into floriculture (flower crops) and cultivation of landscape plants, which is variously termed environmental horticulture, landscape horticulture or nursery crops. References What is botany? Re: How much education is required to be a botanist? Re: What colleges offer Botany as a major?
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