College Botany-Vol. I

Dr. S. Sundara Rajan obtained the D.Sc. degree in Botany from the University of Mysore, specializing in Plant Chemistry, Population Genetics and Gene Ecology. He has also got a D.Litt. degree from Tumkur University for his thesis entitled Glimpses of Plant Science from Sanskrit Literature. He has been teaching and conducting research in Botany and Microbiology for the past 50 years. He has worked as head of P.G. Dept. of Botany, St. Joesphs College for nearly 38 years and also as a Dean, School of Biotechnology, Rai University, Bangalore Campus, Bangalore. Currently, he is the Director, Center for Research in Ancient and Modern Biology, Bengaluru. Dr. Sundara Rajans research interests include Plant Morphology, Physiology, Genetics and Evolution. He has published over 85 research papers in National and International Journals and has authored more than 90 books on Biological Sciences including Microbiology published by leading publishers of India. Dr. Sundara Rajan has travelled abroad widely and has presented papers in many International conferences. He has contributed several invited articles to many books and encyclopedias and has done extensive research on History of Botany in Ancient India, on which he has published about half a dozen papers. He has also published two books on Ancient Indian Botany – Vedic Botany and Dictionary of Sanskrit plant names with botanical equivalents. Dr. Sundara Rajan has received many research awards and grants. Recently, he has been given the state award for being the best college teacher in science by the Government of Karnataka.