Editing Botany (section)

== Branches of botany ==
{{Main|Branches of botany}}
Botany is divided along several axes.

Some subfields of botany relate to particular groups of organisms. Divisions related to the broader historical sense of botany include ''[[bacteriology]]'', ''[[mycology]]'' (or ''fungology''), and ''[[phycology]]'' – respectively, the study of bacteria, fungi, and algae – with ''[[lichenology]]'' as a subfield of mycology. The narrower sense of botany as the study of [[embryophytes]] (land plants) is called ''phytology''. ''[[Bryology]]'' is the study of [[mosses]] (and in the broader sense also [[liverworts]] and [[hornworts]]). ''[[Pteridology]]'' (or ''filicology'') is the study of [[ferns]] and allied plants. A number of other taxa of ranks varying from family to subgenus have terms for their study, including ''[[agrostology]]'' (or ''graminology'') for the study of [[grasses]], ''[[synantherology]]'' for the study of composites, and ''[[batology]]'' for the study of [[bramble]]s.

Study can also be divided by [[guild (ecology)|guild]] rather than [[clade]] or [[evolutionary grade|grade]]. For example, ''[[dendrology]]'' is the study of woody plants.

Many divisions of [[biology]] have botanical subfields. These are commonly denoted by prefixing the word plant (e.g. [[plant taxonomy]], [[plant ecology]], [[plant anatomy]], [[plant morphology]], [[plant systematics]]), or prefixing or substituting the prefix phyto- (e.g. [[phytochemistry]], [[phytogeography]]). The study of [[fossil plants]] is called ''[[palaeobotany]]''. Other fields are denoted by adding or substituting the word botany (e.g. [[systematic botany]]).

''[[Phytosociology]]'' is a subfield of plant ecology that classifies and studies communities of plants.

The intersection of fields from the above pair of categories gives rise to fields such as ''bryogeography'', the study of the distribution of mosses.

Different parts of plants also give rise to their own subfields, including [[Dendrology|''xylology'']], ''[[carpology]]'' (or ''fructology''), and ''[[palynology]]'', these being the study of wood, fruit and pollen/spores respectively.

Botany also overlaps on the one hand with agriculture, horticulture and silviculture, and on the other hand with medicine and pharmacology, giving rise to fields such as ''[[agronomy]]'', ''[[horticultural botany]]'', ''[[phytopathology]]'', and ''[[phytopharmacology]]''.