The department is one of the oldest and most active Departments of SILB. Its mission is to achieve excellence in scholarly pursuits and in teaching and training of post graduate students leading to master of Sciences (M. Sc.) degree. The programme is designed to meet the needs of the students with a variety of the career goals. The broad-based curriculum is rigorous and provides a background in critical thinking, research and communication skills so as to meet the requirements of various national/international research institutes and universities/colleges. Field trips within and outside Himachal Pradesh constitute integral part of the academics. Our post graduate majors have successfully entered careers in the life sciences in public, private and non- profit organizations. There are more than seventy five post graduate students in the department engaged in study in a variety of areas of botanical sciences. Well maintained laboratories provide extensive student experience with plants and experimental equipments. Laboratory sections are kept small to ensure thought provoking student-teacher interactions.