botany Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun all the plant life in a particular region or period
    flora; vegetation.
    • Pleistocene vegetation
    • the flora of southern California
    • the botany of China
  2. noun the branch of biology that studies plants
    phytology.

WordNet

Bot"a*ny noun
Etymology
F. botanique, a. & n., fr. Gr. botanic, fr. herb, plant, fr. to feed, graze.
Wordforms
plural Botanies
Definitions
  1. The science which treats of the structure of plants, the functions of their parts, their places of growth, their classification, and the terms which are employed in their description and denomination. See Plant.
  2. A book which treats of the science of botany. ✍ Botany is divided into various departments; as, Structural Botany, which investigates the structure and organic composition of plants; Physiological Botany, the study of their functions and life; and Systematic Botany, which has to do with their classification, description, nomenclature, etc.

Webster 1913