remain quite small and are very densely covered with secretory glands. By contrast,
pollinatedflowers develop into“seeds”(achenes) and the perigonal bract becomes
much larger and the density of secretory glands is lessened considerably. In
C. sativa, in addition to the tiny perigonal bracts, theflowering axis produces tiny
leaves that are unifoliolate (with just one leaflet;“unifoliate,”descriptive of plants
with just one leaf, is incorrect) that are scarcely different from the perigonal bracts,
and as one proceeds down (proximally) from the tip towards the base of the branch
bearingflowers (the axis of the“bud”) there are increasingly larger bracts that
transition into small leaves with more than one leaflet. The smaller tiny leaves, like
the perigonal bracts, are richly covered with tiny secretory glands, while the larger
leaves within the bud have a lesser density of glands and so less THC on a relative
concentration basis. The larger leaves within buds are often trimmed away to make
the THC concentration of the buds larger.
1.6.4.3 “Buds”
In the standard terminology of horticulture,“buds”are meristems (growing points
or locations where cells divide) of stems orflowers, or are embryonic stems, leaves
orflowers which will develop and enlarge with time. However, as has often been
the case with standard botanical terms, the marijuana trade has distorted the original
meaning. Most plants have numerousflowers, and botanists employ technical terms
to describe the ways thatflowers are arranged on branches or branch systems. The
term“inflorescence”refers to (1) a group or cluster offlowers on an ultimate branch
and/or (2) the entire branching system bearingflowers. When theflowers are fer-
tilized and develop fruits, the branching systems are termed“infructescences.”In
many marijuana strains the ultimateflowering stems have been selected to develop
very congested, short branching systems bearing manyflowers. These are the
so-called“buds”of marijuana—desired because they are extremely rich in THC.
Buds are technically inflorescences—a combination of theflowers and the ultimate
small twigs of the branching system subtending theflowers.
1.6.4.4 Historical Review
There are numerous historical reviews of the usages of drug forms ofC. sativa,
notably: Merlin ( 1972 ), Abel ( 1980 ), Mechoulam ( 1986 ), Aldrich ( 1997 ),
Fankhauser ( 2002 ), Gurley et al. ( 1998 ), Russo ( 2004 , 2007 , 2014 ), several articles
in Russo and Grotenhermen ( 2006 ), and Russo in this volume.
Touw ( 1981 ) reviewed evidence of shamanistic use in ancient China, and
suggested that the psychotropic properties of cannabis may have been known
there as early as 5 millennia ago. Jiang et al. ( 2006 ) and Russo et al. ( 2008 )
documented a 2700-year-old grave, the Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, China, in
which remains of apparently high-THC cannabis were detected, suggesting a
possible ritualistic psychotropic purpose. (The DNA of this material was
24 E. Small