ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Timeline of British botany

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about the timeline of British botany. Botany is the study of plants and British botany is all about the plants that grow in Great Britain, which is an island off the coast of Europe.

British botany really started to take off in the 16th century. That's when people started to take a real interest in studying plants and understanding how they worked.

In the 17th century, a man named John Ray was one of the first people to really study plants in a scientific way. He created a system for classifying different types of plants based on their characteristics. This system is still used today!

During the 18th century, botany really exploded as a field of study. There were lots of famous botanists like Sir Joseph Banks, who went on an expedition to Australia and brought back lots of new plants that had never been seen before.

In the 19th century, botany continued to grow in popularity. There were some really famous botanists like Charles Darwin. You might have heard of him before – he's the guy who came up with the theory of evolution. Darwin was really interested in plants and he did a lot of research on them.

The 20th century saw lots of advancements in botany. Scientists started to use things like microscopes and DNA analysis to study plants. They also started to learn about things like plant genetics and how to create new types of plants through selective breeding.

Today, botany is still a really important field of study. Scientists are studying plants to learn more about things like climate change, biodiversity, and how to create more sustainable agriculture. Who knows what new discoveries we'll make in the future!