used to refer to domesticated plants, many cultivated plants are simply wild plants
that are cultivated, and the different concepts should not be confused. The term
“cultigen”has been used to refer to domesticates in a broad sense, but has been
employed in such different ways that its use can be confusing (Spencer 1999 ;
Spencer and Cross2007a,b).Cultigencan be used to refer to all or individually
recognizable classes of cultivated plants of a given species that have been geneti-
cally altered by human selection. Within a cultigen,land racesare (typically)
geographical groups that have been unconsciously selected over long periods by
traditional farmers, andcultivars are (typically) named selections produced by
breeders or at least deliberately preserved by horticulturalists.
1.10.2 Taxonomic Difficulties with Marijuana Strain Names
Article 2.2 of the nomenclatural code for cultivated plants (Brickell et al. 2009 ), a
legalistic document that governs names for cultivated plants, forbids the use of the
term“strain”as equivalent to“cultivar”for the purpose of formal recognition.
Moreover, this nomenclatural code demands that a number of requirements be
satisfied before biotypes can be officially accepted as cultivars, particularly with
respect to publication of descriptions. Very few Cannabis strains satisfy the
descriptive requirements for cultivar recognition, although manyCannabiscultivars
(mostly grown forfiber or oilseed rather than cannabinoids) do (and by convention
are denoted in single quotes e.g.C. sativa‘Debbie’). In reality,Cannabisstrains are
conceptually identical to Cannabiscultivars, and hopefully with the growing
medical importance of marijuana strains an effort will be made to account for them
as adequately as currently done for other domesticated plants. Snoeijer ( 2002 )
treatedCannabisstrain names as equivalent to cultivar names.
1.10.3 Why Classifying Domesticated Plants
like Wild Plants Is Misleading
The botanical classification ofCannabishas been debated more in the public sphere
than the classification of any other plant. This is not because the genus is especially
difficult taxonomically (it is not) but the controversial nature of marijuana seems to
generate disagreement about every aspect of the plants. Most of the taxonomic
argumentation traces to mistaken attempts to treatC. sativaas a conventional wild
plant, whereas the complexity of its variation pattern has been produced by humans,
not by nature. Domestication frequently generates what appear to be huge differ-
ences among biotypes which if encountered in wild plants would indeed justify
their recognition as separate species.
44 E. Small