Chronicology 101: Taxonomy of Marijuana

by Mythbuster in Chronicology 101 Take a look at this fellow stoners…

Kingdom – Plantae Phylum – Magnoliophyta Class – Magnoliopsidia Order – Rosales Family – Cannabaceae Genus – Cannabis Species – Sativa, Indica, Ruderalis This is the binomial nomenclature for marijuana. Now, you might need to help us out with this. But, how amazing would it be if this page became so popular that it was the first thing that came up when you searched “binomial nomenclature” on Google. Think of how many high school freshmen would show up in biology class with the taxonomy of marijuana. Anyway, we figured this was something good to cover. Sure, there are probably thousands, if not more, strains of marijuana. But you have to understand that these strains are all the bastard children of these three species of marijuana, bred, interbred, cross bred, inbred, and etc. naturally and by man over the past several million years. The more inbred one individual strain got the more prominent the distinct characteristics of that strain become. Since marijuana has been around for millions of years its probable that marijuana has been growing on this Earth longer than humans have harnessed the power of fire. It’s kind of ironic actually, especially considering that there’s no record that cavemen didn’t harness the power of brownies either. But, I’m clearly high, rambling and getting off topic. So, lets get into the difference between the 3 well known, documented, and widely accepted species of marijuana. The consensus is that more strains likely exist today or did at one point in history. Cannabis sativa is the tallest of the three marijuana species. Cannabis indica tends to be shorter and bushier. And, cannabis ruderalis is a much smaller plant.

The one thing that separates Cannabis ruderalis from the other two species is that it is auto-flowering. So, each individual strain (Skunk #1, Grand Daddy Purp, OG Kush, Sour Diesel) will have a light cycle that is most beneficial for plant growth and yield. However, ruderalis strains do not need to be subjected to a 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark cycle in order to induce flowering. Instead, rudelais strains start flowering based on the age of the plant and mature with time as opposed to a change in the light cycle. The highs differ between indica and sativa strains, with indica tending to be a more whole body feeling while sativa is more of a head high. Cannabis ruderalis strains are crossed with either an indica or sativa strain or both, and the new strain that is created will take on the characteristics of the indica or sativa it was introduced to. The benefit of this is to get the desired characteristic of the indica or sativa with the autoflowering capability of the ruderalis. Since ruderalis strains mature with time they mature quicker which gives the plant less time to grow and causes the yield of a ruderalis plant to be generally smaller than that of an indica and much much smaller than that of a sativa. So, for everyone who voted in the poll. The answer is ruderalis. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot us an email.