MadSci Network: Botany
Query:

Re: Difference between a botanist and a horticulturist

Date: Sat Jun 18 12:46:38 2005
Posted By: David Hershey, Faculty, Botany, NA
Area of science: Botany
ID: 1119043446.Bt
Message:

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?







Current Queue | Current Queue for Botany | Botany archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Botany.



MadSci Home | Information | Search | Random Knowledge Generator | MadSci Archives | Mad Library | MAD Labs | MAD FAQs | Ask a ? | Join Us! | Help Support MadSci


MadSci Network, webadmin@madsci.org
© 1995-2005. All rights reserved.