Chapter 5
Morpho-Anatomy of Marijuana
(Cannabis sativa L.)
Vijayasankar Raman, Hemant Lata, Suman Chandra, Ikhlas A. Khan
and Mahmoud A. ElSohly
Abstract Cannabis sativais a complex species with highly variable morphological
features. The present chapter provides detailed descriptions of morphological and
anatomical characters of various parts ofC. sativa plant and illustrated with
bright-field and scanning electron micrographs. Male and femaleflowers occur in
separate plants. Three types of glandular trichomes namely, glandular stalked,
glandular sessile and bulbous glandular trichomes are found. Of these, glandular
stalked trichomes are restricted to thefloral bracts in pistillate plants and anthers in
staminate plants. The other two types of glandular trichomes are found in various
parts including bracts, leaves, stems and petioles. Two types of non-glandular
trichomes namely, cystolith trichomes and slender covering trichomes, are present.
Cystolith trichomes are primarily found on the adaxial leaf surface while the
covering trichomes are commonly present on the abaxial leaf surface, stems,
petioles and tepals. Cystolith crystals of calcium carbonate and cluster crystals of
calcium oxalate are observed in the leaves. Anatomical features of various parts of
the plant are described and illustrated.
V. Raman (&)H. LataS. ChandraI.A. KhanM.A. ElSohly
National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy,
University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
I.A. Khan
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy,
University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
M.A. ElSohly
Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy,
University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
©Springer International Publishing AG 2017
S. Chandra et al. (eds.), Cannabis sativaL. - Botany and Biotechnology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-54564-6_5
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