These free online botany Courses are provided to you when you are not available to go to school and prefer to study at your convenience. You can opt to enroll in any of these courses.
Botany is the in-depth study and understanding of plants. It is essential for comprehending and improving life. It is one of the oldest branches of science that you can pursue. It is also an extensive discipline.
The scope of botany also extends into interesting fields like space travel, agriculture, artificial environments, and hydroponics, with plenty of scope for research.
The course provides an opportunity for anyone who wants to study the scientific interactions between plants. These interactions include those between the plants and then with the natural environment.
For anyone who loves plants and flowers, this is the subject that will allow you to spend some productive hours with them. The most basic concepts in botany include plant anatomy, cytology, genetics, morphology, physiology, and ecology.
Plants play an essential role in environmental habitation because of the oxygen they release and carbon dioxide they inhale. Many people don’t like plants, and it’s always because they don’t understand how to care for them.
Hopefully, they might change their mind if they take any free botany classes online. This article will give you a better idea of where to start your journey as a botanist.
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10 Best Free Online Botany Courses
As a course, Botany has always been offered in many academic institutions. However, there might be a better system of learning everything you need to learn about botany while paying no fees.
The learning method has been improved as botany courses are readily available on various learning platforms such as Udemy, Coursera, edX, Alison, and Skillshare.
Listed below are the best free botany classes online for beginners and advanced learners which were carefully selected, so do well to read through and select the ones to enroll in.
- Herbology
- Angiosperm: Flowering Plant
- Master Gardener Series: Basic Botany
- Plant Bioinformatics Capstone
- Introduction to Genetic Transformation in Plant Cells
- Botany I – Plant Physiology And Taxonomy
- Understanding Plant Metabolism
- Introduction to Plant Cells and Tissue Culture
- Diploma in Plant Cell Bioprocessing
- Understanding Plant Development by Alison
1. Herbology
Botany is an important discipline for pharmacology. Such a relationship is much reflected in this course as you get basic concepts in both fields. The beginner herbology class is delivered in Udemy. The class covers vital botany topics like morphology and anatomy, which are fundamental to the field.
However, the majority of it is also related to pharmacy. Not to mention, the instructor is also a pharmacy student.
This course covers three topics which are:
- Introduction and Classification of Drugs: The first part orients the student on what to expect from the course. It also provides insight into how drugs are classified based on origin, which will be helpful in the final assessment of this course.
- Plant Biology and Morphology: The second part covers essential botanical concepts like plant tissues, systems, cell contents, cell division, and morphology. It also includes a microscopic examination of plants.
- Natural Therapies: The last part features six medicinal plants. Some of them are well-known like Ginkgo leaves.
Thus, this course is best only for students who want an introduction to the field of pharmacy and the role that botany plays in it.
2. Angiosperm: Flowering Plant
This is an Udemy course that is more specialized than introductory. This course is all about navigating angiosperms that dominate the earth’s surface and vegetation in more environments, particularly terrestrial habitats.
Since they inhabit the earth more than any other group of plants, angiosperms are the most important ultimate source of food for birds and mammals, including humans.
In addition, this course is highly important to understand the most economically important group of green plants, serving as a source of pharmaceuticals, fiber products, timber, ornamentals, and other commercial products.
An understanding of angiosperms or flowering parts is essential in botany.
Through this course, you’ll learn about the following:
- Introduction to angiosperms
- Parts of an angiosperm
- Fertilization, reproduction, and the life cycle
- Economic importance of angiosperms
However, because the course is quite specialized, you’ll need at least, the basic biology knowledge, like the life cycle of flowering plants. If you take the course with no prior plant biology knowledge, you may find it more challenging.
Thus, this course is best for students who already have some basic biology knowledge but want a clearer understanding of angiosperms.
Through this course, you can become a professional in biology. Attain high grades and develop your interest in the field of science.
3. Master Gardener Series: Basic Botany
This is a 4-6 hours free online course offered by Oregon State University. It is one of the most comprehensive introductory courses for botany because it covers critical topics that will provide a solid foundation for the field.
You don’t need much experience in botany or science to understand the class. The Course has been designed to help learners identify plants and their non-plant relatives. This includes fungus, algae, lichen, moss, fern, conifer, and seed plants.
This short course aims to help learners recognize the different roles that plants play in a healthy ecosystem
After completing the course, participants will be able to identify all types of plants. In this course, you will also understand the growth and development processes of a healthy plant. As a result of the instructor’s exposition on the basic parts of a plant and all their functions.
As such, this course is best for students who wish for an introduction to the field but have little background knowledge of botany.
This botany course focuses on the following:
- Parts of a plant: You’ll learn about basic anatomy, leaf types, and root systems. You will also distinguish monocots from dicots.
- Plant and plant-like classifications: You’ll learn about different plant classes. You’ll also learn the differences between plants and similar-looking organisms, like fungi.
- Plant processes: Fundamental processes like photosynthesis and respiration will be discussed in detail.
- Importance of plants: You’ll appreciate the roles plants play in maintaining our ecosystem.
Furthermore, you will also be given detailed information about the importance of photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration to plant growth and vigor.
4. Plant Bioinformatics Capstone
This is a Coursera free online botany course. Bioinformatics is one of the most exciting technologies for this generation. This field allows us to unravel information held by plant genes or genomes.
Thus, this course focuses on topics like genes and their functions. You’ll get to learn about gene databases and how to analyze genes properly. In the end, you’ll also make a report from your analysis findings.
Because this course covers quite technical topics like gene analysis, it will not serve as a beginner course in botany.
This course is best for students with intermediate knowledge and experience who want to enhance their bioinformatics skills and understanding of the plant world.
5. Introduction to Genetic Transformation in Plant Cells
This is a 6- to 8-hour Alison free online course in which you will learn about the concept of change in genetics in plant cells. You’ll learn about plant cell immobilization and how to make do with it.
In addition, you’ll also learn about the environments and influences that affect biotransformation in plant cell culture. You’ll get to explore the components of various types of bioreactors used in biotechnology.
Topics covered in this course include:
- The advantages and disadvantages of plant cell immobilization.
- The methods are integral to the transfer of genes, considering the notions of plasmids.
- Plant cell cultivation.
6. Botany I – Plant Physiology And Taxonomy
In this course, you’ll learn about general botany, morphology, and anatomy in a step-by-step guide, which will help you develop a strong understanding of plant physiology.
The course is suitable for all those people who want to start a journey in environmental management, horticulture, agriculture, and plant science especially since the most foundational lessons are covered by it.
You will be exposed to different topics like gardening, landscaping, parks, crop production, farming etc.
Furthermore, you’ll get to understand what ecotourism, scientific research, environmental assessment, and management is. Because of the number of concepts covered, this course takes a bit longer than the others. It takes around 90-100 hours to complete the entire course.
Upon completing this course, you will have gained a complete understanding of plant physiology and taxonomy.
7. Understanding Plant Metabolism
If you’re eager to know the steps and phases involved in embryogenesis, then this course is exactly for you. This is an 8–10 hour course by Alison and one of the best free botany online courses.
In this course, you’ll learn about the elements that affect protoplast cultures, as well as methods for isolating protoplasts and its application. Here, the course primarily concerns plant metabolism.
Topics covered in this course include:
- The concepts of synthetic seed technology
- Secondary metabolism
- Freezing methods and applications as well.
You will understand how mixing affects culture conditions, light, pH, aeration, and plant cell technology is used.
By this course, you can become a notable figure in Horticulture. Evaluate and boost your understanding of agriculture and become an agricultural engineer or chemist.
8. Introduction to Plant Cells and Tissue Culture
In this 8-10 hours free botany online course, you will learn about the morphology of plant cells, the complexities of plant tissues, and their areas of function.
You will be taught all about the principles of photosynthesis and photorespiration. You will get to know the essential methods of development of organs in plants as well as understand the nutritional requirements of plant cells, recovery factors in plants, and applications of somaclonal variation.
The scope of this course includes:
- Introduction to plant cell technology.
- History of plant cells.
- Disadvantages of natural plant extractions of phytochemicals and plant reproduction.
By this course, you can become a notable figure in horticulture.
9. Diploma in Plant Cell Bioprocessing
This is a 10- to 15-hour free botany online course. In this course, you will learn about the anatomy of plant cells, the complexities of plant tissues, and their functional areas
You will get to know the concepts of ‘photosynthesis’ and ‘photorespiration,’ as well as the methodologies of organ growth in plants.
Also, you’ll examine the chemical compositions of plant cells, plant cell technology applications, and the consequences of genetics and bioprocessing in plant cell culture.
10 Understanding Plant Development
This is a free botany online course from Alison which covers exciting and essential topics, they are also quite technical.
In this course, you will study the factors affecting protoplast cultures, methods of protoplast isolation, and application of protoplast cultures. The concepts of synthetic seed technology and secondary metabolism will be highlighted, as will freezing methods and applications.
You will also see the applications of plant cell technology and how light, pH, aeration and mixing affect culture conditions
The course is divided into three modules:
- Module 1: The first part introduces the course and discusses basic plant concepts like tissue development, plant life cycles, and cell fates. You’ll see how an organism develops from one cell into a complex system.
- Module 2: You will learn about the techniques used to understand development in the second part of the course. Most of these techniques are based on molecular genetics.
- Module 3: The last module isn’t a discussion. Instead, it’s an assessment to see how well you absorbed the topics from the previous modules.
Moreover, it’s also a self-guided course; thus, discipline and intermediate experience are crucial to understanding the lessons.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in becoming a botanist, then you’ve just been set on the right path. All you’ve got to do is to try out some of our recommended botany courses. These courses, beyond doubt, can serve as your bedrock into the field or help you take your career as a botanist one step further.
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Ahamefula Ascension is a Real Estate Consultant, Data Analyst, and Content writer. He is the founder of Hope Ablaze Foundation and a Graduate of Environmental Management in one of the prestigious colleges in the country. He is obsessed with Reading, Research and Writing.