Established in 1976, the Department of Botany has the distinction of being the first Under Graduate department in the college.At present it offers the three year programme in B.Sc. Botany, as well complementary courses for B.Sc. Chemistry and B.Sc. Zoology. Additional courses offered by the department include:

• Add-on course on “Mushroom Cultivation and Marketing.”
• Open course on “Forestry” (for S5 Under Graduate students of other departments)

The department is steadfastly committed to its ideal of inculcating in students comprehensive subject knowledge, scientific temper and the spirit of enquiry. Students can augment their classroom learning experiences by making use of a number of facilities offered by the department. Chief among these is its well-maintained botanical garden, which is financially aided by the National Medical Plants Board, Department of  Ayush, Government of India. With a wide array of medicinal plants, star plants, xerophytes and hydrophytes, the botanical garden is calculated to enhance the competence of students in their programme of study. Other notable departmental assets include the well-equipped laboratory and museum with a number of preserved specimens, as well as a herbarium featuring more than 500 sheets arranged according to Bentham and Hookers classification.

The department also takes a keen interest in research activities and has successfully completed several research projects. Some notable projects and research endeavours undertaken in the past five years include:

• UGC minor research project on “Biodiversity of Foliar Mycobionts of Myristica Swamps of Kerala – A Critically Endangered Eco System of Western Ghats” (Dr. Archana G. R.)
• “Physico-Chemical Parameters and identification of algae of Thettiyar River, Thiruvananthapuram” (Dr.Lekshmi G. M.)
• “Establishment of a Herbal Garden at St. Gregorios College Kottarakara”funded by Dept. of Ayush Govt. of India

Currently the department has four faculty members, of whom three are PhD holders. The present Head of Department is Dr. Archana G. R.

Reports

BOTANY ASSOCIATION 2019 -2020 Read more….