Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher who first studied with Plato and then became a disciple of Aristotle, is credited with founding botany..
The Greek philosopher Aristotle collected information about plants but it was really his student Theophrastus [371-286 B.C.] who inherited his teacher's library and began to devise more complex systems of plant classification.
He is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Botany.".
1Step 1: Make your specimen book.
Fold a sheet of paper into eighths.
2) Step 2: Print your specimens.
Press your leaves into the stamp pad, and print them onto the pages of your book.
3) Step 3: Describe your discovery.
Once all your prints are dry, use pencils, pens and markers to write about each specimen..
The early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications.
Examples of early botanical works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BCE, Ancient Egypt, in archaic Ancient Iranic Avestan writings, and in works from China purportedly from before 221 BCE..
Botany is one of the world's oldest natural sciences.
Initially, Botany included all the plant-like organisms such as algae, lichens, ferns, fungi, mosses along with actual plants.
Later on, it was observed that bacteria, algae and fungi belong to a different kingdom.
Also Refer: Taxonomic Hierarchy..
The Historia Plantarum can be regarded as the first botanical synthesis and textbook for modern botany..
Historia Plantarum was written some time between c. 350 BC and c. 287 BC in ten volumes, of which nine survive.
In the book, Theophrastus described plants by their uses, and attempted a biological classification based on how plants reproduced, a first in the history of botany..
While the Egyptians also wrote much on the medicinal uses of plants the study of botany, the earliest written botanical information that we possess today came from the Greeks.
The term "botany" itself probably came from the Greek words botanikos (botanical) and botane (plant or herb)..
