Larning outcomes:
1. To understand dependence of human culture and plants
2. To understand processes of formation of cultivated plants
3. To know different groups of useful plants
4. To understand different aspects of plant usage, threats and conservation merits
5. To recognize plant products in every day life
Course content
Lectures:
1. Plants as material basis of human culture, domestication - the beginnings of plant cultivation in Neolithic and further history of plant cultivation
2. Cereals - chemical constituents, nutritive properties, domestication, diversity and cultural history
3. Pulses - chemical constituents, nutritive properties, domestication, diversity and cultural history
4. Vegetables - biology, domestication and cultural history
5. Fruits of temperate zones - biology, domestication and cultural history
6. Fruits of tropical and subtropical zones - biology, domestication and cultural history
7. Symbolism of plants in the arts
8. Caffeine plants (coffee, tea and cocoa) - biology and cultural history
9. Alcoholic beverages (beer, wine and spirits) - plants as base for alcoholic beverages, basics of production technologies and cultural history
10. Wood - overview of useful tree species in the world, usage and processing of wood, wood properties and derivates
11. Plant fibres - structure and arrangement of fibres in plant tissues, textile fibres, paper
12. Herbs and spices - overview of species, their biology, usage and cultural history
13. Poisonous and psychoactive plants - plant active substances and their actions, overview of poisonous and psychoactive plant species
14. Plant dyes - plant pigments, historical usage of plant dyes, plants in cosmetics and perfumery
15. Genetically modified plants - transgenic plants, history of genetic modification of plants, significance of transgenic plants and controversies
Seminars:
In seminars diverse actual topics in applied botany disciplines are elaborated based on scientific papers published in thematic journals.
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