A botanist is a scientist who studies or experiments with plants. These plants may include a range of organisms, including flowers, trees and algae. Botanists are a type of biologist.

Plant biologists are botanists who directly study the plants themselves. Some work to understand plant genetics, while others examine plant anatomy, the structures of the plants, or plant ecology, how the plants affect the organisms and area around the plants' natural growing area.

Applied plant scientists look at how plants can be used in industries and everyday life. An agronomist uses knowledge of how plants grow to improve farming, while a food scientist looks at how to use plants as food products.

There are also botanists who choose to specialize in one group of plant, such as the lichenologists, who study lichens. These scientists can be further distinguished by the specific types of plants studied within the group. For example, there are botanists who study algae in general, but also botanists who study only algae found in oceans.