Biology 107

Plants and Civilization

Essay Questions for Exam #3

Note: Comments in brackets [ ] will not be included with the actual test questions. Also note that complete answers to these questions require studying both text and class notes.

1. Trace the origin of medicine from Hippocrates through the herbalists of the 16th century. Compare this early Western understanding of disease with the Cherokee origin of disease (and the role of animals and plants in it). [Be sure to include the four humors of the ancient Greeks.]

2. Choose one of these plants -- clover, foxglove, willow, or the fever bark tree -- and explain how it has been used for human medicine. [Your answer should include what the active substance is, the importance of that substance to the plant, and what human diseases the substance is used for.]

3. Describe where opium comes from and how it is collected, the substances present in raw opium and their medicinal uses, the symptoms of opiate withdrawal, and the origin of heroin.

What were the Opium Wars? [A complete answer would include the background to the Opium Wars, why they started, and what the outcome was.]

4. For marijuana, state where it probably originated; its uses in China, India, and Europe; the name of the chief hallucinogenic compound and where it is in greatest concentration; adverse effects of marijuana; and current medical uses.

5. For cocaine, state where it originated and what its original use was, how it was used in the 1800’s, what its current medical uses are, and the effects of its illegal use on the body.

6. For tobacco, describe its origin, cultivation, basic types, and uses.

7. Describe the role of the immune system in allergies, the characteristics of allergy-causing plants, the means of allergy control, and name two of the most common allergy-causing plants.

8. For one of these fungal diseases -- late blight of potato, wheat rust, corn smut, or Dutch elm disease -- describe the life cycle of the fungus and the effects it has on host plants. [“Life cycle of the fungus” means naming the hosts, numbers of spore types, and how the disease spreads.]

9. Describe the growing of grapes and the making of wine. [Be sure you explain all the various processes along the way, as well as the differences in types of wine.]

10. Describe the brewing of beer. [Be sure you explain all the various processes along the way, as well as the differences in types of beer.]