“Sativa-type”and“Indica-type”Marijuana Plants
Beginning with the rise of marijuana as the leading illicit counterculture drug in the
1960s and persisting to the present day with marijuana strains being marketed in the
quasi-legal and legal medicinal markets, there has been a fundamental confusion in
much of the popular literature over what the terms“sativa”and“indica”designate.
Taxonomists have utilized the epithetssativaandindicato distinguish two taxa
(taxonomic groups), the term sativa traditionally designating non-intoxicating hemp
plants in contrast to the term indica which has been used to designate marijuana
plants. The marijuana trade, however, routinely uses both“sativa”and“indica”as
labels for different classes of marijuana plants, and (contradictory to taxonomic
tradition) employs the term sativa to designate plants withmore intoxicating
potential (i.e. very high THC content, but low or no CBD content) and the term
indica to designate plants withlessbut still substantial intoxicating potential (i.e.
moderate THC content and moderate CBD content). Unfortunately the misleading
usage of the terms sativa and indica have become so established in popular lan-
guage that it is futile to attempt to correct the situation. In this chapter, the phrases
“sativa-type”and“indica-type”are employed to denote the popular, albeit mis-
leading usages.
Sativa-type”and“indica-type”(the inappropriateness of these entrenched labels
is pointed out above) represent two discernibly different groups of high-THC
cannabis plants domesticated in Asia. The ancient distribution of these is shown in
Fig.1.7, where it is noted that the indica-type probably arose from the sativa-type.
The much more popular sativa-type has been distributed in much of the world, and
extensive hybrids have been generated between the two kinds. Table1.1summa-
rizes differences that have been alleged to distinguish the two kinds (no adequate
statistically based study of differences has been published, and since hybrids
between the two kinds dominate strains of marijuana currently grown, the two kinds
are best considered as polar extremes connected by a continuous spectrum of
intermediate forms).
Strains of the sativa-type are characteristically tall and well branched in good
growing conditions, and tend to have relatively narrow leaflets. Sativa-type strains
are extremely widespread in the illicit trade of Western nations. Indica strains tend
to be short (about a meter in height) and compact, especially under the often
inhospitable conditions under which they are typically grown in Asia. They have
large leaves and wide leaflets. The appearance is often reminiscent of a miniature,
conical Christmas tree. The different appearances of the two types are contrasted in
Fig.1.6. As detailed above, modern oilseed cultivars are short and compact, this
architecture reducing diversion of energy into stem production and increasing
harvest index (efficiency of production of the desired product), and it is probable
that the architecture of indica-typeC. sativais comparably desirable, but from the
point of view of production of THC rather than seeds.
28 E. Small