--- title: Botany & Plant Science description: Botany is the scientific study of plant life, encompassing structure, growth, reproduction, and evolution. Learners will understand plant physiology, photosynthesis, ecological relationships, and how plants adapt to diverse environments and contribute to global carbon and oxygen cycles. category: sciences subcategory: biology difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/botany-and-plant-science --- # Botany & Plant Science Botany is the scientific study of plant life, encompassing structure, growth, reproduction, and evolution. Learners will understand plant physiology, photosynthesis, ecological relationships, and how plants adapt to diverse environments and contribute to global carbon and oxygen cycles. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 1 Courses • 6 Websites ## Websites ### 1. Plant Village A Penn State research project combining an open plant-disease knowledge base with AI-assisted diagnosis from leaf photos. Growers and students can identify common crop diseases, read management guidance, and see how image classification is applied to agriculture. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://plantvillage.psu.edu **Tags:** plant-pathology, plant-disease, agriculture, crop-science, diagnosis ### 2. USDA Plants Database The USDA's authoritative record for vascular plants, mosses, lichens and liverworts of the United States and its territories. Users can look up accepted names, synonyms, distribution maps, wetland status and native or invasive designations by state. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://plants.usda.gov **Tags:** plant-identification, taxonomy, flora, reference-database, usda ### 3. Botany One A daily blog from the Annals of Botany Company that summarises new plant science papers in plain language. Readers keep up with current research across plant physiology, ecology and evolution without reading the primary journals directly. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://botany.one **Tags:** plant-science, research-news, botany-blog, plant-ecology ### 4. botany.org Official website of the Botanical Society of America, offering resources for learning and doing plant science, including educational materials, research news, access to publications (e.g., the American Journal of Botany), and information on conferences, grants, and membership. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://botany.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, biology ### 5. plantae.org Plantae.org is a global hub for plant science, offering articles, teaching resources, news, and a community space with education materials and professional resources for students, educators, and researchers. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://plantae.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, biology ### 6. kew.org The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a leading botanical research and education institution in London, home to extensive plant science work, taxonomy, and conservation initiatives. Its website provides science content, garden and visitor information, and online databases (notably Plants of the World Online) with species data, classifications, images, and related research. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://kew.org **Tags:** websites, science-research, biology ## Courses ### 1. Understanding Plants - What a Plant Knows For centuries we have collectively marveled at plant diversity and form—from Charles Darwin’s early fascination with stems and flowers to Seymour Krelborn’s distorted doting in Little Shop of Horrors. This course intends to present an intriguing and scientifically valid look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the sensations they feel. Highlighting the latest research in genetics and more, we will delve into the inner lives of plants and draw parallels with the human senses to reveal that we have much more in common with sunflowers and oak trees than we may realize. We’ll learn how plants know up from down, how they know when a neighbor has been infested by a group of hungry beetles, and whether they appreciate the music you’ve been playing for them or if they’re just deaf to the sounds around them. We’ll explore definitions of memory and consciousness as they relate to plants in asking whether we can say that plants might even be aware of their surroundings. This highly interdisciplinary course meshes historical studies with cutting edge modern research and will be relevant to all humans who seek their place in nature. This class has three main goals: 1. To introduce you to basic plant biology by exploring plant senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste, balance). 2. To introduce you to biological research and the scientific method. 3. To get the student to question life in general and what defines us as humans. Once you've taken this course, if you are interested in a more in-depth study of plants, check out my follow-up course, Fundamentals of Plant Biology (https://www.coursera.org/learn/plant-biology/home/welcome). In order to receive academic credit for this course you must successfully pass the academic exam on campus. For information on how to register for the academic exam – https://tauonline.tau.ac.il/registration Additionally, you can apply to certain degrees using the grades you received on the courses. Read more on this here – https://go.tau.ac.il/b.a/mooc-acceptance Teachers interested in teaching this course in their class rooms are invited to explore our Academic High school program here – https://tauonline.tau.ac.il/online-highschool **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/plantknows **Tags:** plant-biology, plant-senses, plant-physiology, mooc, tel-aviv-university ## Podcasts ### 1. In Defense of Plants **Author:** In Defense of Plants Plants are everything. They are also incredibly interesting. From the smallest duckweed to the tallest redwood, the botanical world is full of wonder. Tune in for a podcast celebrating everything botany. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en-US | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.indefenseofplants.com/ **Tags:** botany-podcast, plant-ecology, natural-history, plant-conservation ### 2. Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't **Author:** Tony Santore Why do some plants grow where they do? How can geology cause new plant species to evolve? Why are some plants pollinated by flies, some by bats, some by birds, and others by bees? How does a plant evolve to look like a rock? How can destroying lawns soothe the soul? This is a show about plants and plant habitat through the lens of natural selection and ecology, with a side of neurotic ranting, light humor, occasional profanity, & the perpetual search for the filthiest taqueria bathroom.  **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** en | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.spreaker.com/show/crime-pays-but-botany-doesnt **Tags:** field-botany, plant-ecology, native-plants, natural-history, podcast ## Books ### 1. Raven Biology of Plants **Author:** Peter H. Raven, Ray F. Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn The standard majors-level introductory botany textbook, covering plant cell structure, genetics, physiology, diversity across algae to angiosperms, and ecology. Its illustration program and systematic organisation give students a full survey of the plant kingdom and its evolutionary history. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0716762692?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, biology ### 2. Botany for Gardeners **Author:** Brian Capon Capon, a longtime botany professor, explains seed germination, photosynthesis, root and shoot development, reproduction and adaptation for readers with no science background. Gardeners come away understanding why plants behave as they do rather than following prescriptive advice. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881926558?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, biology ### 3. Plant Physiology **Author:** Lincoln Taiz, Eduardo Zeiger The standard upper-division text on how plants function: water relations, mineral nutrition, photosynthesis, respiration, transport, growth regulators and developmental signalling. Assumes prior cell biology and biochemistry, and grounds each mechanism in the experimental evidence behind it. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0878938230?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** books, science-research, biology --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/botany-and-plant-science