What does a botanist do?
What Is Botany? Botany is the scientific study of plants—how plants function, what they look like, how they are related to each other, where they grow, how people make use of plants, and how plants evolved. Botany often includes the study of algae, may deal with fungi and bacteria, and usually explores the lives of plants, from tiny floating duckweeds to gigantic redwood trees. Plants are essential to the lives of humans, providing all our food—either directly or indirectly—as well as the oxygen we breathe. In addition, the plant kingdom is nature’s medicine cabinet because plants are the source of many of the most important remedies used today. Some plants produce beautiful flowers for which people pay hundreds of dollars, plants and plant materials are worn by people, and some plants produce toxins that kill animals, including humans. Plants are the foundation of all terrestrial communities, and they dramatically affect the world’s climate, the global cycles of nutrients and water, a
