Plants are a great source of beauty and freshness in any area they are placed. Their therapeutic and soothing property has been known through the ages and has been effectively utilized.

Plants have fascinated mankind from the pre historic times, and ever since there have been attempts to classify the different types of plants. Mankind has always been interested in plants and their cultivation for food as well as other usage. Hippocrates and Aristotle have been pioneers in the field of identifying and classifying plants.

Initially the main interest was in the medicinal value of plants rather than cultivation. Later, royalty in France and Italy started promoting plants in a big way. The palace gardens had beautiful landscaping done on a magnificent scale. Under their patronage there was a spurt in the cultivation of orchards. Josephine, the wife of Napolean, introduced a wide variety of roses and was supposed to have, the largest collection of different species of roses in Europe.

It has been noted that distributing plants in the office, lowers stress and augments employee productivity. Studies have shown that having plants in sight increased a person's ability to react by as much as 12 percent. It also helped them to recover from stress within five minutes. Plants were also found to significantly reduce noise, hence increasing productivity among employees.

Currently there is an increase, in the commercial production of medicinal herbs, as the demand for them is growing to a large extent. However, horticulture is still favored for growing beautiful plants and flowers. They offer an aesthetic value, to the concrete jungle that the world is fast becoming.

The earth has a great variety of flora to offer. It devolves on mankind to show enthusiasm, in preserving and proliferating plants, through the various avenues available in the modern times. Botanists have woken up to the requirement of timely intervention, to save the various species of plants on the brink of extinction.