Theophrastus (c. 372–c. 287 BC)

Greek philosopher, regarded as the founder of botany. A pupil of Aristotle, Theophrastus took over the leadership of his school in 323 BC, consolidating its reputation. Of his extensive writings, surviving work is mainly on scientific topics, but includes the Characters, a series of caricatures which may have influenced the comic dramatist Menander.

Theophrastus covered most aspects of botany: descriptions of plants, classification, plant distribution, propagation, germination, and cultivation. He distinguished between two main groups of flowering plants – dicotyledons and monocotyledons in modern terms – and between flowering plants and cone-bearing trees (angiosperms and gymnosperms).

Theophrastus was born on Lesvos but studied in Athens at the Academy, which he then headed until his death.

Theophrastus classified plants into trees, shrubs, undershrubs, and herbs. He described and discussed more than 500 species and varieties of plants from lands bordering the Atlantic and Mediterranean. He noted that some flowers bear petals whereas others do not, and observed the different relative positions of the petals and ovary. In his work on propagation and germination, Theophrastus described the various ways in which specific plants and trees can grow: from seeds, from roots, from pieces torn off, from a branch or twig, or from a small piece of cleft wood.