In 1981, the discipline of botany became one of the first batch of master’s degree disciplines in China. In 1992, it was rated as a key discipline of the Ministry of Forestry(MOF, nowadays The National Forestry and Grassland Administration, NFGA). In 1998, it was approved to confer doctoral degrees. In 2007, it was promoted as a key national discipline, which is still the only key national discipline in Science at Beijing Forestry University(BFU). It has developed into an important basic support for other disciplines, such as silvicuture, ornamental plant, forest ecology, and forest genetics and tree breeding etc. and has become the main supporting discipline for the first “National Bases for the Cultivation of Talents in Fundamental Scientific Research and Teaching” in forestry colleges and universities” in biology, “National Engineering Laboratory of Forest and Tree Breeding”, “National Engineering Research Center for Floriculture”, “Key Laboratory of Forest and Flowers Genetics and Breeding, the Ministry of Education” and “the Postdoctoral Research station in Biology”. For many years, its faculty has been the chief editors of a number of national teaching materials related to Botany, such as Phytology, Plant Physiology and Dendrology, leading the development of forest plant in national forestry colleges and universities. The faculty enjoys 1 academician, 8 professors, 9 associate professors, 2 lecturers and 2 senior technicians.
The discipline strengthens first-class talents cultivation by executing Outstanding Young Teachers’ Plan. Its research fields mainly include forest tree stress biology, tree growth, development and its regulation, plant classification and system evolution, photosynthesis and Photobiology, plant secondary metabolism and defense response.
