What is Cannabis?

Cannabis sativa L. is an annual dioecious C3 flowering plant, with 5-9 lobed (‘fingered’) palmate leaves at maturity. And contrary to popular opinion, Cannabis is not a short-day flowering plant, rather, Cannabis is in fact a long-night flowering plant. That is, generally Cannabis can be induced to flower by uninterrupted night lengths greater than 9 hours.

Because Cannabis is dioecious plants are male or female. But, for medical purposes only, female plants are utilized. When mature, Cannabis flowers are harvested from the plants. From there, they are dried, trimmed, cured, processed into other forms of medication like concentrates – or left in their natural form as flowers – and finally they are analytically tested before sale.

Cannabis is the genus of the plant, and there is at least one species within the genus, tentatively named Cannabis sativa L. For decades it has been assumed there are at least two species, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica. However, currently there is debate among the scientific community regarding whether there is more than one species within the Cannabis genus, or, just one extremely heterogeneous species. Likewise, on the topic of sub-species. Here at Weedys we assume there is one species, Cannabis sativa L., with no sub-species, until there is a definitive scientific consensus stating otherwise.

Indica, Sativa or Neither?

For decades, Cannabis plants and their medicines have been divided into two categories: indica or sativa. It is generally said that indica offers unique types of overall effects (sedative, narcotic), and unique medical properties (e.g., pain and seizure relief), while sativa offers other unique types of overall effects (uplifting, invigorating), and purported medical properties (e.g., migraine relief and appetite stimulation). And that is still true today, albeit for few plants due to hybridization over the past half-century.

That said, the correct terms are not indica and sativa, but “wide-leaflet drug biotype” and “narrow-leaflet drug biotype.” Therefore, there is little value in qualifying plants and their products as “indica” or “sativa,” because those are incorrect terms and there are few “landrace” Cannabis plants available today. Instead, using the catchall term “hybrid,” to refer to nearly every plant and product is correct, both horticulturally and linguistically. When referring to non-hybridized plants and their products, the correct terms are wide-leaflet and narrow-leaflet drug biotypes.