From the moment I learned that plants can use light’s energy to convert carbon dioxide, water, and soil into living tissue, I was hooked. I’ve always been interested in plant and animal life and am fascinated by the diversity of both that are found on our planet.

Botany isn’t just the study of trees. Flowers, crops, grasses, conifers, ferns, mosses, the list goes on. And did you know that not all plants use photosynthesis to survive and grow? This Best Courses Guide (BCG) includes courses about general botany, photosynthesis, how plants respond to their environment, and can even help if you are studying for India’s NEET exam. And for answers to some botany questions, take a look at Reddit’s r/botany sub-reddit.

We’ve collated ratings and reviews from Class Central and course providers to narrow down the best botany courses in our catalog. If your time is limited, the short course by Professor Dave Explains may fit the bill.

For related subjects, see our Ecology, Geology, and Climate Change BCGs.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

• Top Picks
• BCG Stats
• Why You Should Trust Us
• How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Here are our top picks

BCG Stats

• 3 courses are free or free-to-audit and 2 are paid.
• 2 courses offer a verified certificate.
• The most featured provider is YouTube with 2 courses.

Best Introduction to Botany Course

Biology professor Catherine Kleier’s passion for plants shines through in her courses. In Plant Science: An Introduction to Botany you will learn about:

• Plant structures: roots, stems, leaves
• Plant history and evolution
• Photosynthesis
• Reproduction and seed distribution
• Flowers and pollination
• Different habitats: grasslands, shrublands, deserts, tropics, temperate, alpine
• Bad plants aren’t so bad

More courses by this instructor:

• Botany Basics | How to Identify Different Plant Species Around You (YouTube, <1 hour)
• Plant Science: An Introduction to Botany | The Great Courses (YouTube, <1 hour)
• The Botanist’s Eye: Identifying the Plants around You (The Great Courses Plus, 12 hours)

“Especially liked the clear description of the chemistry of photosynthesis” – Sue22, Wondrium learner.

Best Course About Plants

Do you, like me, think of plants as rather static? Living and growing, but also passively accepting their surroundings? In Understanding Plants – Part I: What a Plant Knows, you will discover that plants are far more aware of the world than we might expect. You will find answers to many questions about plants:

• How can plants respond to light without eyes?
• What are plant cells and do they respond to volatile chemicals?
• Do plants communicate with each other?
• How does the Venus flytrap know when to close? Do plants feel pain? What about music?
• How do plants sense gravity so they know up from down?
• Can plants retain, store, and recall sensory information?
• Finish the course with a tour of a plant growth facility and lab

Its companion course, Understanding Plants – Part II: Fundamentals of Plant Biology goes into the biology of plant structure from the cellular level up to flowers and photosynthesis, including a brief look at genetic engineering. Daniel Chamovitz is enthusiastic about the topic, which makes these courses so enjoyable.

“A perfect course! This one went very high on my top-list …” – Kristina Šekrst.

Best Short Course on Botany

Dave Farina (Professor Dave Explains) has already been featured in our Neuroscience, Genetics, Anatomy, and Physiology BCGs. He continues his engaging science series with Botany. You will learn about:

• Plant cells and tissues
• Anatomy, structure, and growth
• Plant classification
• Vascular and nonvascular plants, bryophytes, lycophytes, ferns
• Gymnosperms and angiosperms
• Plant Responses to the Environment
• Photosynthesis
• Dendrochronology

“Very Good! Really useful, easy to use and excellent content!…” – Breyner Ariza Pineda, YouTube learner.

Best Course on Photosynthesis

In Photosynthesis: Help & Review, Elizabeth Friedl goes deep into just how plants use energy from the sun to turn air, water, and other elements into plant tissue. Chapters include:

• Photosynthesis basics
• Plant anatomy
• Biology of photosynthesis
• Chemistry of Photosynthesis
• Other Factors

You will also learn about the evolution of plants including cyanobacteria, and the carbon and hydrologic cycles.

Best NEET Botany Preparation Course (India)

If you want to apply for medical studies in India, you may need to pass the NEET exam. Competition Wallah has made a series of videos in Hindi on various topics for the NEET exam, including Botany in 30 Days | NEET. You will cover:

• Respiration and photosynthesis in plants
• Plant kingdom and biological classification
• Growth, development, anatomy, and morphology
• Cells, the cell cycle and division
• Reproduction and inheritance
• Ecosystem
• Microbes
• Food production
• Conservation and environmental issues

“A teacher who can make botany worth studying for 3 hours straight is an absolute gem for me at least. Hats off sir.” – anusmritabora7662, YouTube learner.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped more than 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of over 150,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees.

I’ve personally completed over 150 online courses in a variety of topics including botany.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. You don’t need to enroll in a university to learn about botany.

I extracted information from course syllabi and reviews, and compiled their ratings, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider ratings. I watched some course videos to sample courses I hadn’t already taken.

Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A botany course can cover various topics, so I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn about botany.