The Department of Botany was started in 1970. The Department offers B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Phil., and Ph.D., programmes. It has grown in reputation and has become a recognized Centre for research in the fields of Angiosperm Taxonomy, Pteridology, Microbiology, Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, and frontier areas of Biotechnology such as Tissue culture and Plant Molecular Biology. The Department is a recipient of FIST I and II from the DST. The Department has produced more than 75 Ph.Ds., 65 M.Phils., and completed 25 major projects funded by different funding agencies such as UGC, DST, MoEn, CSIR, DBT and TNSCST. The Department has conducted a number of National Conferences, Symposia, Seminars, Workshops and a Refresher Course in Biotechnology.