Charles Darwin (1809–1882), the father of evolution, coined the phrase“arti-
ficial selection”in thefirst edition of his workOn the Origin of Species(Darwin
1859 ). He concluded that starting from a wild species artificial selection (i.e. by
humans) could produce divergent breeds so spectacularly different that they mim-
icked related species produced by natural selection.“Hemp”and“Marijuana”have
frequently been recognized as separate“species” (usually called, respectively,
“C. sativa”and“C. indica”) although they are in fact domesticates, and accordingly
their recognition as conventional species is misguided.
1.10.4 Possible Relationships of Wild
and Domesticated Plants
All domesticated plants arose ultimately from wild ancestors, which may no longer
be extant. Plants growing outside of cultivation are commonly said to be“wild,”but
as noted earlier the term is ambiguous. Plants closely related to domesticated plants
and growing outside of cultivation may be: (1) ancestors of the domesticates;
(2) escapes from cultivation, either identical to the domesticates or altered by
generations of selection for existence in nature; (3) hybrids or introgressants
between a wild relative and the domesticate. Often a domesticate arises from a
weedy wild species and, conversely, often a weed arises from domesticated plants.
When one can distinguish three phases: (a) domesticated crop(s), (b) ancestral or
closely related (at least somewhat interfertile) wild plants which still have natural
distribution ranges, and (c) weedy or ruderal relatives of the crop that interbreed
with it, the assemblage is referred to as a“wild-weed-crop complex.”When only
(a) and (c) can be distinguished, it is simply a“crop-weed complex.”Many crops
likeCannabisexist in crop-weed complexes (Andersson and de Vicente 2010 ),
with domesticated forms in cultivation, and related ruderal (weedy) forms growing
outside of cultivation.
The issue of whether allCannabisplants growing outside of cultivation are
derived from escapes from cultivation, or whether some of these are free of genes
altered by humans, cannot be conclusively settled with available information (in
some respects, it’s like trying to prove a negative). Some botanists have recognized
wild-growingCannabisas constituting taxonomic groups at one or more ranks (the
most widely used nomenclatural epithets for these arekafiristanica,ruderalisand
spontanea). However, since the existence of truly wild forms of the species that
have never been altered by contact with humans is not known with any confidence,
traditional treatment in the manner that taxonomists categorize exclusively wild
species with known primeval distribution ranges is doubtfully warranted.
By no means are cultivated plants lacking extant wild ancestors unusual: there
are hundreds of domesticated plants known only in cultivation. LikeCannabis,
1 Classification ofCannabis sativaL. in Relation... 45