History of Botany

A fundamental contribution to the establishment of botany as a science was made by the ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist Theophrastus (c. 370–285 BCE), a student of Aristotle (Yakovlev et al., 2006). His works "Enquiry into Plants" (Latin: Historia plantarum) and "On the Causes of Plants" became the first botanical compendium to reach us, covering more than 500 species (Strasburger, 1971). Theophrastus described the life forms of plants, dividing them into trees, shrubs, subshrubs, and herbs, and pointed out the dependence of plant structure on growing conditions (Serebryakova et al., 2006). He also laid the foundations of comparative morphology, distinguishing vegetative and reproductive organs. For these merits, Carl Linnaeus later called Theophrastus the "father of botany" (Mauseth, 2017).

In Ancient Rome, botanical research developed mainly in applied directions — medicine and agriculture. The most significant work of this period was the treatise De materia medica by the Greek physician Dioscorides (1st century CE), which described about 600 plant species and their medicinal properties (Yakovlev et al., 2006). This work remained the main pharmacopoeial reference in Europe and the Middle East for more than a millennium (Graham et al., 2014).

During the early Middle Ages, the accumulation of botanical knowledge slowed down. The prevailing scholastic approach to science did not encourage naturalistic observations (Serebryakova et al., 2006). Nevertheless, in the 13th century, the treatise "On Plants" (Latin: De vegetabilibus) by Albertus Magnus (1206–1280) appeared, summarizing ancient and Arabic sources (Serebryakova et al., 2006). Albertus Magnus not only described the external structure of plants but also attempted their classification, anticipating some ideas of subsequent eras (Evert, 2006).

The late Middle Ages saw the establishment of the first botanical gardens at universities. The oldest of them — the Botanical Garden in Padua (founded in 1545) and the garden in Pisa (1544) — originated as "physic gardens" for growing medicinal plants (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). These institutions played a key role in the introduction, study, and conservation of plant diversity.

At the end of the 15th and during the 16th centuries, the Age of Great Geographical Discoveries brought a stream of previously unknown plants from America, Africa, and Asia to Europe. The need arose to describe, illustrate, and classify them. Thus, "herbals" appeared — illustrated compendia containing descriptions of local and exotic species. Among the most famous are the works of the German "fathers of botany": O. Brunfels (1530–1536), J. Bock (1539), and L. Fuchs (1542) (Serebryakova et al., 2006). It was during this period that plant herbarization was invented (L. Ghini, early 16th century), making it possible to create collections for comparative study (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

Thus, the ancient and medieval periods laid the empirical and methodological foundation for the subsequent transformation of botany into an independent science. Descriptions of thousands of species were accumulated, the first classifications were developed, and botanical institutions were created.

The massive influx of previously unknown plants from America, Africa, and Asia into Europe required their inventory and systematization (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). The response to this challenge was the creation of "herbals" — illustrated compendia that combined descriptions of plant appearance with their economic and medicinal uses. The most famous herbals of this period belong to German botanists: O. Brunfels ("Living Images of Plants", 1530–1536), J. Bock ("New Herbal", 1539), and L. Fuchs ("History of Plants", 1542) (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

An important development was the invention of herbarization — the method of drying plants between sheets of paper. The author of this method is considered to be the Italian scientist L. Ghini (1490–1556), and his student J. Cibo compiled one of the oldest surviving herbaria (1532) (Yakovlev et al., 2006). Herbaria made it possible to create collections for comparative study, which was of great importance for the development of systematics.

During the same period, botanical gardens began to be established at European universities. The earliest of them — in Padua (1545), Pisa (1544), Bologna (1567), Leiden (1587), Montpellier (1593) — initially served as "physic gardens" for growing medicinal plants (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). Later they became scientific centers for the introduction and acclimatization of plants.

Around 1590, the Janssen brothers (Netherlands) invented a prototype of the microscope (Strasburger, 1971). This instrument allowed, for the first time, a glimpse into the internal structure of organisms. In 1665, the English naturalist Robert Hooke published the book Micrographia, where he first described cells in a slice of cork and introduced the term cellula ("cell") (Mauseth, 2017). Hooke observed dead plant cells, but his discovery laid the foundation for cytology.

In the 1670s–1680s, independently of each other, the Italian Marcello Malpighi ("Plant Anatomy", 1675) and the Englishman Nehemiah Grew ("The Anatomy of Plants", 1682) laid the foundations for the systematic study of the internal structure of plants (Evert, 2006). They described the tissues of the stem, root, and leaf, and demonstrated the presence of vessels and fibers. Grew was the first to use the term parenchyma for ground tissue. Malpighi conducted girdling experiments on stems, proving that organic substances move through the phloem (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

In 1683, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, using microscopes he had improved, drew bacteria and protozoa for the first time (Yakovlev et al., 2006). Although his work dealt mainly with the animal world, it demonstrated the potential of microscopy for studying all living organisms.

In 1629, the Flemish physician Jan Baptista van Helmont published the results of his famous experiment with a willow. He planted a willow branch in a barrel with 90.7 kg of dry soil, watering it only with rainwater. After 5 years, he found that the mass of the tree had increased by 74.4 kg, while the mass of the soil had decreased by only 57 g (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). Van Helmont concluded that plants build their bodies from water, not from soil. Although this conclusion was incomplete (he did not account for the role of carbon dioxide), van Helmont’s experiment became one of the first quantitative experiments in plant physiology and refuted the idea that soil alone nourishes plants (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

The most important event of the late 17th century was the experimental proof of the existence of sex in plants. In 1694, the German botanist and physician Rudolph Jacob Camerarius published his work De sexu plantarum epistola ("Letter on the Sex of Plants") (Yakovlev et al., 2006). Conducting experiments with dioecious plants (spinach, hemp, maize), he showed that without pollen, seeds do not form. Camerarius was the first to clearly formulate the concept of flower unisexuality and pollination, thereby laying the foundations of plant embryology (Lersten, 2004).

Thus, in the 16th–17th centuries, botany was enriched with new methods (microscopy, herbarization, experimentation) and new objects (exotic floras). Material was accumulated that, in the next century, allowed Carl Linnaeus to create a coherent system of classification and 18th-century physiologists to discover photosynthesis.

The central figure of 18th-century botany is rightly considered the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). In 1735, he published Systema Naturae ("The System of Nature"), and in 1753, Species Plantarum ("The Species of Plants") (Strasburger, 1971). In these works, Linnaeus for the first time consistently applied binomial nomenclature, establishing for each species a name consisting of two words: the generic name and the specific epithet (Mauseth, 2017). The publication date of Species Plantarum — May 1, 1753 — is accepted by the International Code of Nomenclature as the starting point of priority for scientific names of plants (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

Linnaeus proposed an artificial "sexual system" of classification based on the number and arrangement of stamens and pistils in the flower. Despite its artificiality (it did not reflect evolutionary relationships), this system proved extremely convenient for plant identification and gained universal acceptance (Simpson, 2019). Linnaeus also introduced standardized botanical terminology and described about 8,000 plant species. His merit lay in creating order out of the chaos of previous descriptions; his motto was Deus creavit, Linnaeus disposuit ("God created, Linnaeus organized").

Already in the second half of the 18th century, it became evident that Linnaeus’s artificial system did not reflect true relationships among organisms. The French botanist Michel Adanson (1727–1806), in his work "Natural Families of Plants" (1763), proposed an approach that considered all characteristics of an organism without prior determination of their importance — Adanson’s principle (Serebryakova et al., 2006). However, the most significant natural system of that time was created by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836) in his work "Genera of Plants" (1789). He was the first to distinguish about 100 natural families, many of which (e.g., Rosaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae) have been preserved in systematics to the present day (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021).

In 1790, the great German poet and naturalist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) published his work "Essay on the Metamorphosis of Plants" (Serebryakova et al., 2006). Goethe showed that all organs of a flowering plant — cotyledons, vegetative leaves, sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels — are modifications (metamorphoses) of the same organ, the leaf (Graham et al., 2014). This idea laid the foundation of comparative plant morphology and had a profound influence on the subsequent development of evolutionary biology. Goethe also introduced the term "morphology" into science (1817) (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

In 1774, the English chemist Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) discovered that plants "restore" air that had been spoiled by a burning candle or by the respiration of an animal (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). In 1779, the Dutch physician Jan Ingenhousz (1730–1799) showed that this ability manifests only in the light and that plants release oxygen. Later, in 1782, the Swiss scientist Jean Senebier (1742–1809) proved that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. These discoveries led toward an understanding of the essence of photosynthesis (Evert, 2006).

The Swiss scientist Nicolas Théodore de Saussure (1767–1845), in his 1804 work "Chemical Investigations of Vegetation," demonstrated that water also participates in the formation of plant mass and that mineral elements enter from the soil (Strasburger, 1971). This definitively refuted the idea that soil is the sole source of plant nutrition.

A crucial event for understanding plant-animal interactions occurred in 1793, when the German botanist Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750–1816) published his work "The Secret of Nature Revealed in the Structure and Fertilization of Flowers." He showed that many flowers are adapted to cross‑pollination by insects and described various types of floral specialization to specific pollinators (Serebryakova et al., 2006). Sprengel is rightly considered the founder of anthecology — the study of flowers and their pollination.

In 1807, the first volume of "Travel to the Equinoctial Regions of the New World" by Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was published (Serebryakova et al., 2006). Humboldt summarized a vast amount of data on the distribution of plants depending on climate and altitude. He distinguished 16 (later 19) "physiognomic forms" of plants, which effectively became the first ecological classification of life forms (Graham et al., 2014). Humboldt is considered the founder of plant geography and, to a large extent, of plant ecology.

Thus, the 18th century laid the foundation for the subsequent "golden age" of botany in the 19th century. Working classification systems were created, the most important physiological processes were described, and the study of plant interactions with the environment began.

In 1831, the English botanist Robert Brown (1773–1858) discovered the cell nucleus (Strasburger, 1971). In 1838–1839, the German botanist Matthias Schleiden (1804–1881) and the German zoologist Theodor Schwann (1810–1882) formulated the cell theory, according to which all living organisms consist of cells and the cell is the universal unit of structure (Mauseth, 2017). In 1846, Hugo von Mohl (1805–1872) introduced the term "protoplasm" to denote the living content of the cell (Serebryakova et al., 2006). In 1855, the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902) proclaimed the principle "Omnis cellula e cellula" ("every cell from a cell"), thereby completing the formation of cell theory (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

In 1876–1879, Eduard Strasburger (1844–1912) described mitosis in plants in detail, and in 1887, Theodor Boveri (1862–1915) characterized meiosis (Evert, 2006). These discoveries laid the foundations of cytology and cytogenetics.

In 1859, Charles Darwin (1809–1882) published "On the Origin of Species" (Graham et al., 2014). Darwin’s evolutionary theory provided a natural scientific explanation for the diversity of plants and animals and stimulated a revision of systematics, morphology, and physiology. In 1851, the German botanist Wilhelm Hofmeister (1824–1877) discovered homologies in the alternation of generations in higher spore plants and seed plants, demonstrating the unity of their life cycles (Serebryakova et al., 2006). In 1866, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) formulated the biogenetic law: ontogeny (individual development) is a brief recapitulation of phylogeny (evolutionary development of the species) (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021).

Plant embryology emerged as an independent discipline in the second half of the 19th century. In 1884, E. Strasburger proved that in gymnosperms fertilization occurs by the fusion of sperm and egg nuclei (Lersten, 2004). In 1898, the Russian botanist Sergei Gavrilovich Navashin (1857–1930) made an outstanding discovery — double fertilization in angiosperms (Yakovlev et al., 2006). He showed that one sperm fuses with the egg cell, forming a zygote (diploid embryo), while the second fuses with the central nucleus of the embryo sac, forming triploid endosperm. This discovery became one of the most important in 19th-century botany and had great significance for understanding the life cycle of flowering plants.

In 1840, Justus von Liebig (1803–1873) published his work "Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and Physiology," in which he formulated the mineral theory of plant nutrition, refuting the previously dominant humus theory (Serebryakova et al., 2006). He showed that plants obtain inorganic elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc.) from the soil, and carbon from carbon dioxide in the air. Liebig also formulated the "law of the minimum" — plant growth is limited by the element that is present in relative minimum.

In the 1860s, Julius Sachs (1832–1897) developed the method of water culture and proved that starch is the first visible product of photosynthesis (Strasburger, 1971). He also described the effects of light, temperature, and hormones on plant growth and development. In 1877, Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845–1920) published "Osmotische Untersuchungen" ("Osmotic Investigations"), laying the foundations for the study of plant water relations (Evert, 2006).

Between 1887 and 1915, the monumental work "Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien" was published under the editorship of Adolf Engler (1844–1930) and Karl Prantl (1849–1893) (Simpson, 2019). This compendium, covering all known groups of plants, became the basis of systematics for many decades. Engler’s system, although not phylogenetic, was used until the 1980s.

In 1883, the German botanist Anton de Bary (1831–1888) published "Vergleichende Morphologie und Biologie der Pilze, Mycetozoen und Bacterien", laying the foundations of mycology (Yakovlev et al., 2006). He also introduced the concept of symbiosis and studied lichens as symbiotic organisms in detail.

In 1805, Alexander von Humboldt’s work "Ideas on the Geography of Plants" appeared (see Chapter 3). In 1855, Alphonse de Candolle (1806–1893) published "Géographie botanique raisonnée", summarizing data on the distribution of plants around the globe (Serebryakova et al., 2006). In 1872, August Grisebach (1814–1879) published "Die Vegetation der Erde" ("The Vegetation of the Earth"), providing the first compendium of vegetation types (biomes).

In 1895, the Danish botanist Johannes Eugenius Warming (1841–1924) published "Plantesamfund" (in English translation "Ecology of Plants") (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). This work is considered the starting point of plant ecology as an independent science. Warming introduced the concepts of life forms and ecological factors.

In 1865, the Austrian monk and botanist Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) published his article "Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden" ("Experiments on Plant Hybrids") in the journal of the Natural History Society of Brünn (Yakovlev et al., 2006). Using the garden pea (Pisum sativum) as an example, Mendel formulated the laws of inheritance: the rule of dominance, the law of segregation, and the law of independent assortment. However, his work remained unnoticed until 1900, when Mendel’s laws were independently rediscovered by Erich Tschermak, Carl Correns, and Hugo de Vries (Mauseth, 2017).

Thus, the 19th century transformed botany from a predominantly descriptive science into a complex of disciplines based on experiment, theory, and the evolutionary approach. The foundations of cytology, embryology, genetics, physiology, ecology, and phylogenetic systematics were laid.

In the 1930s, Ernst Ruska (1907–1988) constructed the electron microscope, making it possible to study cell ultrastructure (Mauseth, 2017). In the 1950s–1960s, chloroplasts, mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, dictyosomes, and other organelles were described in detail (Evert, 2006). Studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provided three‑dimensional images of surfaces and internal cell structures. It was shown that chloroplasts and mitochondria contain their own DNA, confirming the endosymbiotic theory of the origin of the eukaryotic cell (Graham et al., 2014).

In the mid‑20th century, fundamental compendia on plant anatomy appeared: "Anatomy of the Dicotyledons" (C. Metcalfe and L. Chalk, 1950) and "Anatomy of the Monocotyledons" (1960), which became standard reference works for anatomists and systematists (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

In 1937, Hans Krebs (1900–1981) discovered the tricarboxylic acid cycle (Krebs cycle) — the central catabolic pathway in eukaryotic cells (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). In 1957, Melvin Calvin (1911–1997) elucidated the path of carbon assimilation in photosynthesis (Calvin cycle), for which he received the Nobel Prize (1961). In the 1950s–1960s, C4 photosynthesis was discovered — a special carbon fixation pathway characteristic of plants from hot and arid climates (maize, sugarcane, millet) (Lersten, 2004). In the 1960s, the mechanism of phloem transport (Münch hypothesis) was studied in detail and experimentally confirmed. In the 1970s–1980s, the major plant hormones — auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, ethylene — were isolated and characterized (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

In 1900, Mendel’s laws were rediscovered independently by Erich Tschermak, Carl Correns, and Hugo de Vries (Yakovlev et al., 2006). In the 1910s–1920s, Thomas Morgan (1866–1945) and his school created the chromosomal theory of heredity, showing that genes are arranged linearly on chromosomes. In 1920, Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov (1887–1943) formulated the law of homologous series in hereditary variation, establishing parallelism in the variation of related taxa (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). He also developed the doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants and organized the collection of global plant genetic resources (now the N.I. Vavilov All‑Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, VIR). In the mid‑20th century, mutation theory was developed and the role of polyploidy in plant evolution and breeding was demonstrated. In the 1950s, J. O’Mara obtained triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

In 1950, the German zoologist Willi Hennig (1913–1976) published "Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik", and in 1966 its English translation "Phylogenetic Systematics" appeared (Simpson, 2019). Hennig laid the foundations of the cladistic method, according to which classification should reflect exclusively monophyletic groups (clades). In the 1960s–1970s, Robert Sokal and Peter Sneath developed the principles of numerical (phenetic) systematics based on overall similarity (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

In the 1960s–1990s, three alternative phylogenetic systems of flowering plants were created — by Armen Takhtajan (b. 1910), Arthur Cronquist (1919–1992), and Rolf Thorne (b. 1920) (Yakovlev et al., 2006). Since the 1990s, molecular phylogenetic methods (analysis of DNA sequences from chloroplasts, mitochondria, and the nucleus) have gained decisive importance. In 1999, based on chloroplast DNA analysis, it was shown that the earliest lineage of angiosperms is the monotypic family Amborellaceae from New Caledonia (Simpson, 2019).

In the mid‑20th century, biomorfology — the study of plant life forms — emerged, investigating plant adaptation to their environment at the whole‑organism level. A major contribution to this field was made by the Russian botanist Tatiana Ivanovna Serebryakova (1914–1969), who developed a classification of life forms and the concept of the modular structure of plants (Serebryakova et al., 2006). She showed that a plant represents a modular system in which shoots and roots are repeatedly repeated, and growth and development follow rhythmic processes. It was established that plant life forms are the result of long evolution under specific climatic and soil conditions.

In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double helix model of DNA, which gave rise to molecular biology (Mauseth, 2017). In 1961, the genetic code was deciphered. In the 1970s–1980s, recombinant DNA methods were developed, allowing gene transfer between unrelated organisms. In 1983, the first transgenic plants (antibiotic‑resistant tobacco) were obtained. In 1994, the first transgenic product — the Flavr Savr tomato with delayed ripening — was approved for sale (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). In 2000, the complete genome sequence of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was published, followed by those of rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays) and other crops (Graham et al., 2014). In 2001, Golden Rice was created, producing β-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A). Transgenic crops resistant to herbicides (Roundup Ready) and insect pests (Bt crops) were developed.

In 1935, Arthur Tansley (1871–1955) introduced the concept of the ecosystem. In the 1940s–1960s, the doctrine of biogeocoenoses developed (Vladimir Sukachev, 1880–1967) (Serebryakova et al., 2006). In the 1960s–1970s, awareness of global environmental problems (greenhouse effect, acid rain, biodiversity loss) stimulated the development of plant ecophysiology and population ecology. In the 1970s–1990s, Red Data Books were compiled in many countries (in the USSR in 1984), and concepts of sustainable development and conservation of plant gene pools were developed. In 2000, UNESCO adopted the Convention on Biological Diversity, in which botanical monitoring plays an important role.

Thus, the 20th – early 21st centuries transformed botany into a science based on the precise methods of molecular biology, biochemistry, and computer modeling. Botanical knowledge became the foundation for solving applied problems — from creating new crop varieties to monitoring and preserving the Earth’s vegetation cover.

The discovery of Mendel’s laws (1865, rediscovered in 1900) and the chromosomal theory of heredity (Morgan, 1910s–1920s) laid the scientific foundations of plant breeding (Mauseth, 2017). The work of N. I. Vavilov (1920) — the law of homologous series and the doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants — made it possible to purposefully search for source material for breeding (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021). The global seed collection (VIR) created by Vavilov became the basis for developing thousands of varieties resistant to diseases, pests, and adverse conditions.

Modern seed banks are a direct continuation of these ideas. In 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault was opened, ensuring long-term conservation of the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and their wild relatives (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

Studies by van Helmont (1629), de Saussure (1804), and Liebig (1840) showed that plants obtain inorganic elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc.) from the soil, and carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide (Strasburger, 1971). Liebig formulated the "law of the minimum" — yield is limited by the element that is in relative deficiency. These discoveries laid the foundation of agrochemistry — the science of fertilizer application. Without them, modern intensive agriculture would be impossible.

The discovery of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in legumes (H. Hellriegel, 1885–1886) made it possible to use biological nitrogen in crop rotations and to develop technologies for producing bacterial fertilizers (Evert, 2006).

Understanding the mechanisms of photosynthesis (Priestley, 1774; Ingenhousz, 1779; Calvin, 1957) and the discovery of the C4 pathway (1960s) allowed breeders to create varieties with more efficient use of solar energy (Lersten, 2004). Maize (Zea mays), sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) are typical C4 plants that produce high yields under hot and dry conditions. Studies of photosynthesis are also important for increasing the productivity of greenhouse crops and developing lighting systems.

The emergence of mycology (de Bary, 1883) and bacteriology (Leeuwenhoek, 1683; Pasteur, 1860) made it possible to identify plant disease pathogens. The discovery of the fungus Phytophthora infestans as the cause of potato late blight became the basis for developing control measures that prevented famine in Europe (Graham et al., 2014). Studies of the life cycles of rust fungi (black stem rust of wheat) led to the development of protection strategies using resistant varieties and elimination of alternate hosts (Serebryakova et al., 2006).

Modern genetic engineering methods (Bt crops resistant to insects) are also based on fundamental knowledge of the molecular biology of plants and their pests (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021).

Accurate plant identification is the basis of introduction and acclimatization. The systematic works of Linnaeus, Jussieu, Engler, and Takhtajan provided a unified nomenclature for cultivated and wild species (Simpson, 2019). Without this, international seed production, plant quarantine, and the exchange of genetic resources would be impossible.

Vavilov’s doctrine of the centers of origin of cultivated plants guides the search for useful genes from wild relatives for use in breeding. For example, resistance to drought, salinity, or diseases is often identified in wild species and then transferred into cultivated varieties (Yakovlev et al., 2006).

Ecological research (Warming, 1895; Tansley, 1935; Sukachev, 1940s) showed that crop productivity depends on interactions with soil, climate, weeds, pests, and symbionts (Serebryakova et al., 2006). This led to the development of precision farming systems, crop rotations, green manuring, and biological pest control.

The study of life forms (Serebryakova) helps to understand the growth strategies and survival of weeds, which is necessary for developing effective weed control methods without herbicides.

Advances in molecular biology (Watson and Crick, 1953; deciphering the genetic code, 1961) and recombinant DNA methods (1970s–1980s) made it possible to create transgenic plants with new traits (Graham et al., 2014). Agricultural significance includes:

These developments became possible thanks to centuries of botanical research — from the discovery of the cell to genome sequencing.

The history of botany shows that the loss of species and ecosystems is irreversible. Red Data Books, nature reserves, national parks, and seed banks are practical applications of botanical knowledge for conserving the plant world. Botanical gardens, dating back to the 16th century, today perform the function of ex situ conservation of rare species (Bidlack & Jansky, 2021).

Understanding the role of plants in the global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and water (derived from the history of physiology and ecology) is necessary to mitigate the effects of climate change and to practice sustainable agriculture.