Course objectives: The course provides (1) the fundamentals of growth, development and architecture patterns of tropical plants; (2) bases in botany and tropical systematics derived from the study of the major families of tropical plants and their identification based on vegetative characters.

Course contents: (1) plant architecture: basic knowledge in plant morphology and architecture; (2) tropical systematics: structure and main divisions in the plant kingdom, illustrated description of main tropical families (with emphasis on families and species of economic value), presentation and use of a simple identification key for tropical plant families based on workable field criterias.

Teaching and learning methods: Lectures (24 hours) and field work (plant identification) (3 hours).

Examination: Individual written examination.

Competences acquired: Students will be able to identify the main families of tropical plants from the observation of vegetative characters.