What is Cannabis?

Most people may think they know what cannabis is and it’s probably by many different names – weed, marijuana, ganja, pot, hemp, herb etc.

I’m sure most people know it is a plant.

Its botanical name is cannabis sativa l derived from the greek ‘kannabis’ and the latin ‘sativa’ meaning useful. It is a member of the botanical order urticales or rosales and more specifically the cannabaceae family which also includes hops (used to make beer). Its first recorded use was in 8000BCE (Ancient Mesopotamia) for textiles and rope. It was actually one of the first cultivated agricultural crops of humanity.

Fossil records show close ancestors of this plant have been on earth for 34,000,000 years; it has been in service to humanity in the ancient world since the times of the earliest recorded civilisations (in East Asia and modern day Iraq and Turkestan); it helped China document its history in the first century CE; sailed the seas in the conquest of the British Empire and offered independence to the people of the new world. This plant has been around a very long time. Its many uses and versatility warrant its deep connection with humanity throughout the ages.

The Plant

Cannabis is a hardy annual herb that reaches heights of one to five meters in a season. It has a rigid central stalk that contains long bast fibres and a very distinctive palmate leaf with 5 to 11 leaflets.

The genus is dioecious meaning it has two distinct sexes – a pollen bearing staminate or male flower or a seed producing pistillate or female flower, blooming on separate plants.

It has 3 variants sativa, indica and ruderalis that have different physical characteristics and uses.

Indicas are shorter, resinous plants with denser branches, thicker tropical foliage and wider leaflets and was named after varieties found in India. It is usually associated with its medicinal uses.

Sativas are much leggier, taller plants with less branches but a long central stalk, sparser foliage and more slender leaflets. This type is more often associated with the plants non-medicinal uses and is sometimes referred to as hemp.

Ruderalis was the last variant to be discovered by a Russian botanists in 1924 (DE Janischevsky) and is even shorter then indica and it can survive in far colder climates.

The Indica variants are usually grown for the medicinal resinous substances produced by its female flowers (more on this in its use as a medicine or for spirituality & creativity).

The Sativa variants (or what is often called hemp) is grown for its many other uses as fuel, fibre, food, paper, plastic and building materials. It’s a much taller plant that produces a lot less of the resinous substances but does grow a large core stem and produces a lot more seeds as well as a larger biomass (obviously due to its larger size). This is also the kind of plant we are referring to in regards to its positive environmental impacts. Its main components are its stalks and seeds.

The hurds (also called shiv or pulp) the inner woody part of the stalk (which makes up 70% of its weight) and contains about 1/3 cellulose is the building block for many other products such as paper, plastic and building materials. This can be seen in the middle photo on the right.

The seeds are not only the most nutritious on Earth and a complete food (meaning they contain all the essential fatty acids and amino acids needed for healthy human life) but they also have a variety of uses particularly from the oil they produce. The oil has been used throughout antiquity as lighting and cooking oil as well as to create paints and varnish. The oil can be used in many industrial products now derived from crude oil. The seed can be seen in the bottom photo.

Its useful to understand the various parts of the plant as this will help to understand its many other uses and which part of the plant they relate to. There will be many cross overs as you will begin to see.

Watch the 7 part series today to begin your journey.

Or continue reading here, lets start with Medicine.

Or click the buttons below for its uses, what Hemp can do for our environment, its prohibition and solutions.