McPartland and Guy ( 2004 ) and McPartland ( 2014 ) proposed reconciling
“Sativa”and“Indica”withC. sativaandC. indicaby correcting the vernacular
nomenclature:“Sativa”is reallyindica, and“Indica”is actuallyafghanica, and
“Ruderalis”is usuallysativa.The initial reaction to this proposition by recreational
users was negative. An editorial in High Times characterized the corrected
nomenclature as“undoubtedly a little kooky”(Sirius 2015 ).
Researchers, however, are starting to take it on board (e.g, Henry 2015 ). Clarke
and Merlin ( 2016 ) published a vernacular correction nearly identical to McPartland
( 2014 ), although they did not cite the precedent publication. Two table headings in
their respective taxonomic tables are exampled:
- McPartland ( 2014 ): Indica (formerly“Sativa”)
- Clarke and Merlin ( 2016 ): Indica—Wrongly called“sativa”.
The title of their article is adapted from other antecedents, also uncited
(Tejkalováand Hazekamp 2014 ; Piomelli and Russo 2016 ). If these phrases were
botanical names, a taxonomist would invoke the principle of priority. For example,
Clarke and Merlin ( 2013 ) erected a new biotype name,“BLD”(broad leaf drug).
They objected to Hillig’s names of biotypes based onleaf shape. Nevertheless,
invoking priority, BLD is a later synonym of Hillig’s WLD. Similarly, Clarke and
Merlin ( 2015 ) strenuously rejected Small’s taxonomic character“intoxicant.”They
replaced it with“psychoactive.”
Erkelens and Hazekamp ( 2014 ) outlined the history of “Indica” and they
emphasized taxonomical conflicts between monotypic and polytypic views of
Cannabis. For the rest of this chapter,“Sativa”refers to the NLD biotype, or plants
ofIndian heritage(including their putative descendants in Southeast Asia, Africa,
and the Americas).“Indica”refers to the WLD biotype, orAfghani landraces
(including related populations in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, and
possibly neighboring Turkestan—Uzbekistan and Xīnjiāng).
4.5 The Hybridization Impasse
Selective cross-breeding of drug-type Cannabis accelerated in the 1970s.
Germplasm from Afghanistan was smuggled into California in the early 1970s (D.
Watson, pers. commun. 1984), or the late 1970s (Clarke 1987 ). During the 1980s at
least sevenCannabisbreeders sold exotic germplasm in Holland. They crossed
plants of Indian heritage (“sweet but late maturing”) with Afghani landraces, valued
for rapid maturation, cold-tolerance, short stature, and dense, tightly-packedflower
clusters. By the late 1980s, nearly all drug-typeCannabisgrown in the USA,
Canada, and Europe had been hybridized. Unadulterated plants of Indian heritage
and Afghani landraces became difficult to obtain (Clarke 1987 ).
Alarmingly, foreign germplasm has corrupted Indian and Afghani landraces in
their former centers of diversity. Peterson ( 2009 ) deplored the importation of
106 J.M. McPartland