The Department of Plant Sciences, at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, England, was a former Oxford department that researched

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

and

fungal A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one of the tradit ...

biology. It was part of the university's Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division. From 1 August 2022 its functionality merged with the Department of Zoology to become the Department of Biology at the

Herbaria

The department housed the Oxford University

Herbaria A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

that consists of two herbaria: * Fielding-Druce Herbarium. * Daubeny Herbarium. In total the collections contain 800,000 specimens and benefits from close links with the university's

Oxford Botanic Garden The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest Botanical garden, botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal resear ...

. The herbaria are now housed under the title of Department of Biology.

History

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

was an important part of the university under the name of the '' Imperial Forestry Institute'', from 1924; later the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Forestry Institute from 1939. The Oxford Forestry Institute was incorporated into the Department of Plant Sciences in 2002, and research relating to forestry was undertaken under that name until 2022 when the department merged with the Department of Zoology to form the Department of Biology. Some students were Imperial Forest Service students, who came from many parts of the British Empire to qualify as foresters before they returned home. It ran a post graduate MSc forestry course for many years: ''Forestry and its Relation to Land Use'', until 2002. In January 2021, the

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the local authority for the city of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Oxford has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974, Oxford has been a non-metropolitan district, wi ...

approved the £200m construction of the ''Life and Mind Building'', which will be the university's largest building project and combine the Departments of

Experimental Psychology Experimental psychology is the work done by those who apply Experiment, experimental methods to psychological study and the underlying processes. Experimental psychologists employ Research participant, human participants and Animal testing, anim ...

and

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

. It will replace the Tinbergen Building on South Parks Road, which was closed and demolished when

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

was discovered in 2017. The building will feature multiple laboratories, teaching and testing spaces providing research facilities for 800 students and 1200 researchers. Work is expected to start in June 2021, with the building opening in September 2024.

References

{{Coord , 51.7590, -1.2524, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Biology education in the United Kingdom

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Plant Sciences Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially their anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field. "Plant" and "botany ...

Educational institutions with year of establishment missing

Herbaria

History

See also

References