Tento výzkum si klade za cíl najít průnik mezi vědami, které se historicky zabývaly, a i nadále zbývají kulturními rostlinami. Důležitost rostlinám byla přikládána již ve starověkém světě, a to na obou extrémech eurasijského kulturního kontinua. Počátek zájmu o studium rostliny můžeme sledovat již od počátku písemnictví. Z tohoto období pochází první díla kompilující rozsáhlé znalosti o rostlinách, jako příklad jmenujme antické římsko-řecké klasiky jako je Theophrastos, Plinius, či Pedanius Discorides. Práce si proto klade za cíl shrnout a klasifikovat dosavadní studium rostlin, od raného vývoje, až po moderní pojetí a obě tradice (čínskou a evropskou) komparovat s ohledem na jejich kulturně-filosoficko-jazyková specifika. Zvláštní pozornost bude věnována unikátnímu žánru čínské rostlinopisné tradice, tzv. hladomorové literatuře, která nemá obdoby. Tato práce se snaží na téma rostlin pohlížet z různých perspektiv, především z pohledu historie životního prostředí, kterou považujeme za hybatele dějin.This doctoral research was primarily aimed at discovering the intersection between the sciences that have historically studied, and presently continue to study, cultivated plants. The importance of plants has been given to the ancient world, at both extremes of the Eurasian cultural continuum. The beginning of interest in the study of plants can be traced back to the early days of writing. The first treatises compiling extensive knowledge about plants date from this period, as exemplified by ancient Roman-Greek classics such as Theophrastus, Pliny, and Pedanius Discorides. The aim of this research was to provide an analytical summary and classify the existing study of plants, from the early development to the modern concept, and to compare the two traditions (Chinese and European) with respect to their cultural-philosophical-linguistic specifics. Particular attention was paid to a unique genre of the Chinese plant tradition, the so-called famine literature, which has no parallel in the European context. The so-called Esculentist Movement, a series of Ming-dynasty-era writings on famine food, as coined by Joseph Needham and his collaborators, however, proved to be a very strong ideological manifest whose main purpose was to serve the legitimisation of the imperial rule, and an extension of Confucian ideals, namely the maintaining of the Mandate of Heaven and fulfilling the role of a benevolent and caring father to his people by providing them with means of survival in times of hardship. Moreover, it was discovered that the truly pragmatic and famine-preventive literature could be traced to the 6th-century agricultural treatise, Qimin Yaoshu, whose primary focus on crop production, harvesting, processing and long-term preservation plays a vital role in maintaining flexible subsistence patterns in China. This research attempted to introduce approaches to the subject of cultural plants from different perspectives, especially from the perspective of environmental history, and the history of every day, which, in the form of environmental and social crises could be considered the driving force of history.