Cannabis

Cannabis
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Cannabis sativa L.
Cannabis indica Lam.
Cannabis ruderalis Janisch.

Cannabis (Cán-na-bis) is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa L., Cannabis indica Lam., and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. These three taxa are indigenous to central Asia and surrounding regions. Cannabis has long been used for fibre (hemp), for medicinal purposes, and as a drug. Industrial hemp products are made from Cannabis plants selected to produce an abundance of fiber and minimal levels of THC (Δ9- tetrahydrocannabinol), one psychoactive molecule that produces the “high” associated with marijuana. The drug consists of dried flowers and leaves of plants selected to produce high levels of THC. Various extracts including hashish and hash oil are also produced.[1] The cultivation and possession of Cannabis for recreational use is outlawed in most countries.

The plant name cannabis is from Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis), via Latin cannabis, originally a Scythian or Thracian word, also loaned into Persian as kanab. English hemp (Old English hænep) may be an early loan (predating Grimm’s Law) from the same source. In Hebrew the word is קַנַּבּוֹס [qan:a’bos].

The further origin of the Scythian term is uncertain.

Cannabis is an annual, dioecious, flowering herb. The leaves are palmately compound, with serrate leaflets. The first pair of leaves usually have a single leaflet, the number gradually increasing up to a maximum of about thirteen leaflets per leaf (usually seven or nine), depending on variety and growing conditions. At the top of a flowering plant, this number again diminishes to a single leaflet per leaf. The lower leaf pairs usually occur in an opposite leaf arrangement and the upper leaf pairs in an alternate arrangement on the main stem of a mature plant.

Cannabis usually has imperfect flowers with staminate “male” and pistillate “female” flowers occurring on separate plants,[2] although hermaphroditic flowers sometimes occur.[3] Male flowers are borne on loose panicles, and female flowers are borne on racemes.[4] It is not unusual for individual plants to bear both male and female flowers in some strains, a condition called monoecy.[5] On monoecious plants, flowers of both sexes may occur on separate inflorescences, or on the same inflorescence.[3]

Cannabinoids, terpenoids, and other compounds are secreted by glandular trichomes that occur most abundantly on the floral calyxes and bracts of female plants.[6]

Some images of Cannabis