Origins of Cannabis sativa
The scientific name
Cannabis sativa was first published in 1753 by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus who is known today as the father of modern taxonomy, the science of classifying organisms. The term
sativa simply means “cultivated” and describes the
common hemp plant grown widely across Europe in his time.
C. sativa is native to Europe and western Eurasia where it has been grown for millennia as a fiber and seed crop, and was introduced to the New World during European colonization. In short, we wear
C. sativa fibers and we eat
C. sativa seeds and
seed oil, but we do not smoke
C. sativa plants as they have little ability to produce the cannabinoid
delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or
THC, the primary psychoactive and medically valuable compound found in
Cannabis. In addition, compared to the essential oil of
C. indica varieties,
C. sativa produces less quantity and variety of
terpenes, which are increasingly shown to be of importance in the efficacy of
Cannabis medicines.
C. sativa represents a very small portion of the genetic diversity seen in
Cannabis worldwide, and it is not divided into subspecies based on differing origins and uses like
C. indica. Linnaeus likely had never even seen any drug
Cannabis, and it is incorrect to use “sativa” to describe drug varieties.
Origins of Cannabis indica
More than 30 years later, in 1785, French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described and named a second species,
Cannabis indica, meaning the
Cannabis from India where the first samples of the plant reaching Europe originated.
C. indica is native to eastern Eurasia and was spread by humans around the world primarily as a source of psychoactive THC.
C. indica is used for marijuana and
hashish production, but in many regions of eastern Asia it has a long history of cultivation for its
strong fibers and nutritious seeds. In short, we wear
C. indica fibers, and we eat
C. indica seeds and seed oil, but we also use
C. indica as a valuable recreational and medicinal plant.
C. indica includes the vast majority of
Cannabis varieties living today and is divided into several subspecies with differing origins and uses.
Type specimens of C. sativa NLH, C. indica NLD and C. ruderalis the PA or NLHA. (From Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany)
The Cannabis debate
Since the 1960s taxonomists have championed several different naming systems. Many preferred a three species concept by recognizing
C. ruderalis as a wild species possibly ancestral to both
C. sativa and
C. indica. Others chose to reduce
C. indica and
C. ruderalis to subspecies or varieties of a single species
C. sativa. In the late 1970s markedly different appearing hashish varieties were introduced to the West from
Afghanistan and considered by some to be the true
C. indica and by others as a fourth species
C. afghanica, while all the other drug varieties were held to be members of
C. sativa following the single species model. By the dawn of the new millennium confusion and disagreement reigned, but better science would prevail.
Reconciliation through taxonomic groupings
Karl Hillig at Indiana University (published 2004, 2005) investigated the diversity of
Cannabis by characterizing the chemical contents of plants from a wide range of geographical origins and usages; and he proposed taxonomic groupings (subspecies) that both reconciled the previous naming systems, and fit well into a hypothetical model for the evolution of
Cannabis. Hillig’s research supports the original two-species concept for
Cannabis—C. sativa Linnaeus and
C. indica Lamarck—with
C. indica being far more genetically diverse than
C. sativa. Hillig recognized the European cultivated subspecies as
C. sativa ssp.
sativa. Because it typically has narrow leaflets and is used for hemp fiber and seed production, he named it narrow-leaf hemp or NLH. He also identified spontaneously growing wild or feral populations previously called
C. ruderalis as
C. sativa ssp
. spontanea which he named the putative ancestor or PA and I refer to as the narrow-leaf hemp ancestor or NLHA.
Four C. indica sub-species
Hillig grouped
C. indica varieties into four subspecies—three based on their diverse morphological and biochemical traits, and another characterized largely by its spontaneous growth habit.
Subspecies indica
indica ssp. indica varieties range across the Indian subcontinent from Southeast Asia to western India and into Africa. This is what Lamarck described as C. indica or Indian Cannabis. Subspecies indica populations are characterized as having a high content of THC with little if any cannabidiol or CBD—the second most common cannabinoid, which is non-psychoactive, and has also been shown to have medical efficacy. By the 19th century these drug varieties reached the Caribbean region of the New World, steadily spread throughout Central and South America, and since the 1960s have been exported to Europe, North America and beyond forming the early sin semilla marijuana gene pool. Marijuana users commonly call them “sativas” because their leaflets are relatively narrow, especially in relation to the Afghan varieties or “indicas” that were introduced later, and therefore exhibit a superficial resemblance to European C. sativa narrow-leaf hemp or NLH plants. However, this is a misnomer as C. sativa plants produce little if any THC. Based on Hillig’s research we now call members of C. indica ssp. indica narrow-leaf drug or NLD varieties, because although they also have narrow leaflets, they produce THC and are therefore drug varieties.
Subspecies afghanica
Subspecies afghanica originated in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where crops were traditionally grown to manufacture sieved hashish. From 1974, when Afghan Cannabis was first described in English by Harvard professor Richard Schultes, it became readily apparent that it represented a type of drug Cannabis previously unknown to Westerners. Its short robust stature and broad, dark-green leaves distinguished it from the taller, lighter green and more laxly branched NLD varieties. By the late 1970s seeds of Afghan hashish varieties reached Europe and North America and were rapidly disseminated among marijuana growers. At this time all Cannabis varieties were commonly considered to be members of C. sativa, and the familiar NLD marijuana varieties were called “sativas” to differentiate them from the newly introduced and quite different looking varieties called “indicas.” Hillig named the Afghan hashish varieties C. indica ssp. afghanica and I call them broad-leaf drug or BLD varieties to differentiate them from NLD varieties. BLD populations can have CBD levels equal to those of THC. Both subspecies indica and subspecies afghanica produce a wide array of aromatic compounds that are important in determining their physical and mental effects.
Richard Evans Schultes with C. indica ssp. afghanica broad-leaf drug or BLD plants in Afghanistan. (From Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany; courtesy of Neil Schultes)
, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné
