History of botany scope of the subject as technology has opened up new techniques and areas of study. Modern molecular systematics, for example, entails the principles and techniques of taxonomy, molecular biology, computer science and more. Within botany there are a number of sub-disciplines that focus on particular plant groups, each with their own range of related studies (anatomy, morphology etc.). Included here are: phycology (algae), pteridology (ferns), bryology (mosses and liverworts) and palaeobotany (fossil plants) and their histories are treated elsewhere (see side bar). To this list can be added mycology, the study of fungi, which were once treated as plants, but
The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants is a book by Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz and Aristid Lindenmayer. It's notable as it is the first comprehensive volume on the computer simulation of certain patterns in nature found in plant development (L-systems). The book is no longer in print but is available free online. The book has eight chapters: George Klir, reviewing the book in the "International Journal of General Systems", writes that "This book, full of beautiful pictures of plants of great variety, is a testimony of the genius of Aristid Lindenmayer, who invented in 1968 systems that are