The Untouchable Plant

Cannabis has had a very long and interesting history. Cultivated for over 10,000 years and adapted worldwide, it is valued for its fiber, seeds, and medicinal properties. It holds sacred and medicinal importance in various cultures and religious texts, including the Atharvaveda and Buddhist lore. Despite this long history, many misconceptions, mysteries, and unanswered questions about the plant remain. 

Hi, I’m Sanjana, a researcher with a master’s in environmental science. My research sits at the intersection of environment, agriculture, and culture. During my master's, I studied cannabis in the Parvati Valley, exploring local knowledge, traditional practices, and global policy debates. That is when I realised that cannabis is not just a plant but a story full of history and controversy. 

Many from the valley chose not to speak about it, many have forgotten about the traditional use, and many are just milking it for the sake of money. But overall, nobody wants to talk about it. Few wanted to talk about it, fewer wanted to be seen with it, and almost no one wanted to touch it. This silence and stigma around cannabis is what inspired the title of this series - "The Untouchable Plant."

In this blog series, I will share this story, weaving science and personal insights, unpacking the many questions that challenged and shaped my understanding of cannabis.

What is in a Name?

In this blog we will explore one such question that has puzzled me right from the beginning as

How do we classify Cannabis?

While cannabis is widely recognized by many popular names, such as marijuana, ganja, bhang, charas, hash, etc.; its precise scientific classification remains unsettled and a subject of ongoing debate. Is it a single species or does it consist of multiple species? When I stepped into this field of research,the first hurdle in my way was the nomenclature. Cannabis sativa? indica? ruderalis? What is it? What is the difference? What do these names really mean? In my early literature review, some papers insisted these were three distinct species, while others recognized only Cannabis sativa. Even online searches left me more confused than before.

 (Image by CannabisVera from Pixabay)

To answer this question, let’s step back into history and explore the context more clearly.

Understanding Classification

Taxonomy is the branch of science concerned with identifying, describing, naming, and classifying organisms based on shared traits, relationships, and evolutionary history. The system we use today was formalized by Carl Linnaeus, an 18th-century Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who is widely regarded as the “father of modern taxonomy.” His hierarchical system of classification remains the foundation of biology.

Animals and plants are classified using this hierarchical taxonomy system. This system includes several major ranks:  

• Domain, which groups organisms based on fundamental differences in cell type, 

• Kingdom, where organisms are grouped into broad categories like Animalia for animals and Plantae for plants. 

• Within kingdoms, organisms are further divided into Phyla (for animals) or Divisions (for plants), which cluster species based on major structural and functional features. 

• Below phyla/divisions comes the Class, a more specific grouping that collects organisms sharing finer anatomical similarities, such as mammals in animals or flowering plants among plants. 

• Classes are divided into Orders, which group organisms that are even more closely related. 

• The next rank is Family, consolidating related genera that share significant traits. 

• Genus is a grouping of species that are structurally similar and closely related. 

• Finally, at the most specific level is the species, which identifies organisms capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring, representing the fundamental unit of biological classification. Each species is given a unique two-part scientific name, combining its genus and species designation, providing a universally recognized label across the biological sciences. 

We are currently putting all our focus on ‘species’ because that is where all our confusions lie.

Cannabis belongs to the:- 

Order - Rosales —> Family - Cannabaceae —> Genus - Cannabis —> Species - ??? 

(Fordjour et al., 2023)

What is the actual species of this plant?

Let's dive deeper into it.

Linnaeus’ Classification 

In 1737, Linnaeus originally described it as a single species based on fiber varieties common in Europe. Almost five decades later in 1785, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, on studying Indian cannabis (shorter and resin-rich), proposed a new species, Cannabis indica.

Later on, in the early 1900s, Janischevsky identified a similar plant in Russia that did not fit the exact descriptions of the earlier prescribed species. He named it Cannabis ruderalis. 

The three Cannabis species were differentiated primarily based on distinct physical and chemical traits. Cannabis sativa was identified as tall, narrow-leafed, and largely used for fiber and seed due to low THC content. Cannabis indica was recognized as short, densely branched, with broad leaves and high THC levels. Cannabis ruderalis was distinguished as a short, wild, auto-flowering type with low THC, unique for its spontaneous flowering regardless of day length.

Present-day Confusion

When I first came across these classifications, it felt like cannabis had been split into three neat boxes as sativa, indica, and ruderalis. But the deeper I went, the more I realized those boxes don’t really hold up. The traits they described, like height, branching, flowering patterns, and resin content overlap. And the fact that these plants can interbreed and produce fertile offspring tells us they’re not truly different species.

(Cibdol, 2023)

What we’re seeing could be geographic adaptations: tall fiber hemp in Europe, resin-rich plants in India, and hardy auto-flowering ones in Russia. These local differences probably shaped how early botanists classified cannabis, but by today’s definition of species, they all fall under one. While some suggest indica and ruderalis might be subspecies, even that isn’t formally recognized. The official Plant List still accepts only one species ”Cannabis sativa” with indica and ruderalis and many more names treated as synonyms. These variations may not only reflect geography and environment but also the fact that cannabis has been cultivated, selected, and shaped by humans for centuries, further blurring rigid taxonomic boundaries. So the plant that once left me hassled over names and categories really circles back to a single truth: it’s all sativa.

 (WFO Plant List | World Flora Online, n.d.)

 (WFO Plant List | World Flora Online, n.d.)

Conclusion

The story of cannabis taxonomy shows how a single plant can inspire centuries of debate and discovery. From Linnaeus’s simple classification to today’s nuanced discussions, Cannabis sativa reflects remarkable adaptability shaped by geography, culture, and human use. Whether seen as one species or many, its diversity continues to fuel research, breeding, and conversations around its role in society. This topic about what to call cannabis, which is complicated and has been the subject of a lot of debate, was the start of my learning relationship with the plant while I was doing research in the Parvati Valley.

Everything starts with a name and the complications around cannabis plant begin from the basics of nomenclature, which is its name. So, when you say, “What’s in a name?” this blog can tell you a lot.

It also sets the tone for this blog series, where I will continue to unravel cannabis through both scientific and cultural lenses. 

Himalayan Hemp is a socio-ecological community working on preserving the indigenous varieties of cannabis and hemp plants in the Himalayan range while creating eco-conscious products with local marginalised people. This blog series is a part of our mission to bring the right kind of information in front of the world regarding cannabis.