The goal of this botany textbook is to introduce students to the current state of botanical science knowledge. Its goal is to identify the hypotheses and issues that botanical research is now working on, in addition to describing the known aspects...

The goal of this botany textbook is to introduce students to the current state of botanical science knowledge. Its goal is to identify the hypotheses and issues that botanical research is now working on, in addition to describing the known aspects of plant life. This book was prepared in awareness of the fact that, for almost all college students, taking an introductory botany course is part of their general education and not a means of getting ready for a career in botany. The contrast is crucial because, despite our own unconscious adaptation, our current courses are heavily geared towards the later end. Whilst the differences are more in proportion and focus than in topic and manner, the necessities in the two situations are not the same. All students require the close personal encounter with particular realities and the exercise in rational proof that laboratory courses make possible. Yet, knowledge is useful to an expert in proportion to its objective importance, whereas it is helpful to a general learner in proportion to its impact on human behavior and thought. In one situation, the requirements of the science take precedence, whereas in the other, student interests come first.