Botany is the biological study of plants, including algae, fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, conifers and flowering plants.
Botany is concerned with the perpective of plants, including where they live and how they grow.
Research in this field of biology helps improve our medicines, foods, fibers, building materials and environmental conditions. Environmental or Ecological Botany deals more specifically with the understanding of the influence of various factors on the ecology of plants and the composition of plant communities, including light intensity, temperature, pH, organic content, soil profiles and water balance. Botany students study the habits, distribution, form, chemistry, heredity and interactions of plants with other living things and the environment. Although scientists now generally consider bacteria, algae and fungi to belong to a distinctly seperate field, most Botany Departments at colleges and universities, still teach about them. Specific career paths depend largely on each individual's field of interest.