Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal www.indianbotanists.com Year 2014 Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline of Plant Sciences Rabish Chandra* 1 and Vinny Sharma 2 1 Central Excise Officer, Central Excise Customs and Service Tax, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (*Views expressed herein are personal) 2 Research Scholar, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 How to cite this article Chandra, R., Sharma, V., (2014), Forensic Botany: An Emerging Discipline of Plant Sciences. Indian Botanists Blog-o-Journal. http://www.indianbotanists.com/2014/03/forensic-botany-emerging- discipline-of.html ABSTRACT: Various disciplines have emerged due to vast expansion in the studies of plant sciences. Discovery of new methods, protocols and analytical techniques facilitates for thorough and deep study of the given subject. One among many disciplines which has appeared as an offshoot from basic plant science is forensic botany. Forensic botany is an interdisciplinary area where the knowledge of botany is applied to solve the crime. This paper introduces about the basic of the subject explaining various sub-disciplines and its application in forensic science. It also cites some cases where botanical evidences have been the part of judgements. Plants since the beginning of human existence have played important role in their civilizations. They have been used as both weapons and protector. The role of plants as evidence for solving the criminal cases though is comparatively new. It was only after 1932 when during the trial of Lindbergh kidnapping case the botanical evidences were accepted (Graham, 1997) and the judgement was made based on them the plants were recognised as crime solvers. This case marked the birth of Forensic Botany. The term Forensic comes from the Latin word ‘forensis’ meaning “of or for the forum”. Forensic Science is often defined as the application of scientific methods and techniques for the purposes of justice. Forensic Science has been branched into various headings viz. forensic biology, forensic anthropology, forensic chemistry, forensic physics, forensic botany, forensic entomology, forensic serology, etc. Forensic Botany is defined as the use of plant evidence in court. In other words, examination of plant materials or remains collected at a crime scene and using them to solve crimes or other legal problems may be loosely termed as Forensic Botany. Forensic botany can play a valuable role in criminal investigations, but it has been underused because of the lack of botanical knowledge among most people involved in criminal investigations. Although forensic botany has been underused in criminal investigations over the years, resourceful investigators and scientists with initiative are beginning to change this. Forensic Botany is subdivided into several specialities of botanical fields like, plant taxonomy, palynology, plant ecology, limnology etc. and more recently molecular plant biology. Forensic botany is useful in the examination of gastric contents in homicide victims. It can help determine the contents and location of a