Unit 4: Ethnobotany: Sacred Plants as Biological and Social Systems

• LP 4.1: How to isolate indigenous botanical traditions from descriptive texts and evaluate how geographical biomes shape internal protective chemistry.
• LP 4.2: How to execute a cross-disciplinary scientific investigation tracking a plant's environmental requirements, biochemical actions in the brain, ceremonial functions, and modern legal classifications.
• LP 4.3: How to use independent environmental, molecular, and societal data pathways into an integrated "Hub-and-Spoke" model to present a systemic argument.

• DCI: LS1.A (Structure and Function); LS2.A (Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems): Investigating how external environmental traits force the evolution of protective chemical metabolites that alter animal and human neurology.
• SEP: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information; Constructing Explanations: Conducting digital and textual research to cross-examine pharmacological data with human legislative structures.
• CCC: Systems and System Models; Cause and Effect: Modeling a plant species as a multidimensional biological and social entity where molecular chemistry directly triggers historical, cultural, and legal developments.