The history of the Division of Botany begins with a continuous teaching of botany in Zagreb in 1875-76.
The classes were initially held at the Department of Botany and Physiology, as it was first called, which was at that time a part of the Faculty of Philosophy. The Division was located in a building that belonged to the high school “Gornjogradska gimnazija”, and even then it had a collection of plants that numbered more than 10.000. From these tight rooms it was moved to the main University building, which is today the Rectorate, and later to Marulićev trg 20. At the time of its founding in 1889, the Botanical Garden, together with the Department of Botany and Physiology, belonged to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. From 1946, after the Faculty of Science was established, the Division of Botany along with the Botanical Garden became a part of the Department of Biology.
The research covers all fields of botany on a variety of taxa ranging from algae, bryophytes and vascular plants at the cellular, organismal, community and ecosystem levels. The Division of Botany is responsible for botanical courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Department of Biology.
Many members are experts in their respective fields of research and teaching, and their contributions are evident through their high quality research publications in reputed international journals.
Today, the Division of Botany is located in three locations:
Rooseveltov trg 6 - plant physiology, marine and freshwater phytoplankton
Marulićev trg 20 - ecology, vegetation, geobotany, archeobotany and the “Herbarium Croaticum”
Marulićev trg 9A - flora, systematics, morphology, anatomy, palynology, phyotochemistry, horticulture, “Ivo and Marija Horvat” collection of plants).
Faculty members IAPT, Planta Europa, ECNC, Optima