Order of Botanics

The Order of Botanics (Ordo Botanicum) was a private organization of botanists that worked closely with the Republic Livestock and Agriculture Administration as well as the Jedi Agriculture Corps. Their history predates 10,000 BBY and they're believed to have originated on Alderaan, where their modern-era headquarters was located. During the Imperial era, the Order of Botanics was legally a bureau of the Imperial Ministry of Agriculture and later the New Republic Agricultural Administration.

Botanists traveled across the galaxy, often accompanying merchants and colonists, studying and collecting plant and fungi specimens. Their goal was to document every known plant species in existence. As of the Imperial era, more than sixty percent of documented plant species were discovered by the Order of Botanics over the millennia.

The Central Botanical Vault, which contained up to 80,000 plant and fungus specimens, was located in the outskirts of Terrarium city. After Alderaan was destroyed, the Order of Botanics relocated the Central Botanical Vault

Organization
The Order of Botanics was led by the Magister of Botanics, who managed the Order's policies and was in charge of diplomacy between the Order of Botanics and Republic bureaus. Master botanists oversaw greenhouses and seed-vaults across the galaxy, where all known specimens were kept in a sterile environment. These facilities, of which over 500 existed, were typically very large, each designed to house over 100,000 individual species. All botanical facilities were protected by whatever law enforcement organization was present, though private security companies were also sometimes contracted to protect vaults. Scientists, journalists, and botanical historians then went about documenting the new specimens and providing information to scientific institutes across the galactic community.

Various different civilian starship models were crewed by botanists, who often traveled in fleets alongside merchants or colonists. Apart from the botanists themselves, several agricultural droids participated in botanical operations. Upon gathering new specimens, the botanists returned to the nearest master botanist and turned over their discoveries. Many botanists lived in large greenhouses, which were each designed to comfortably host up to 100 botanists with luxury furnishings.