Cannabaceae
Cannabis

Cannabis sativa L.

First published in Sp. Pl.: 1027 (1753)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central Asia to Xinjiang and Pakistan. It is an annual and grows primarily in the temperate biome. It is used as animal food, a poison and a medicine, has social uses and for fuel and food.

Descriptions

Cannabaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1975

Morphology General Habit
A rough, rather rank-smelling, leafy, simple or branched herb 0.9–4.5 m. tall, the male plants taller and more slender, dying soon after flowering, the females stockier and living several months after pollination; stems angular, covered with rather short stiffish hairs.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 3–7(–11)-foliolate; petioles 3–7.5 cm. long, pubescent; leaflets sessile, narrowly lanceolate, 2.5–15 cm. long, 0.35–2 cm. wide, tapering-acuminate at the apex, narrowly cuneate at the base, the margins coarsely toothed, covered on both surfaces with very short bristly hairs and small yellow glands.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male and female flowers on different plants or rarely on one plant but then one sex predominating.
sex Male
Male inflorescence loosely paniculate, up to 18 cm. long, covered with minute bristly hairs; flowers whitish to yellowish-green; sepals oblong-elliptic, 2.8–4 mm. long, 1–1.6 mm. wide, minutely hairy; stamens at length pendulous, the filaments about 0.3–1 mm. long and the anthers 3–3.7 mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Female inflorescences not projecting from the leaves, more compact, short and few-flowered. Male inflorescence loosely paniculate, up to 18 cm. long, covered with minute bristly hairs; flowers whitish to yellowish-green; sepals oblong-elliptic, 2.8–4 mm. long, 1–1.6 mm. wide, minutely hairy; stamens at length pendulous, the filaments about 0.3–1 mm. long and the anthers 3–3.7 mm. long.
sex Female
Female inflorescences not projecting from the leaves, more compact, short and few-flowered.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences Bracteoles
Bracteole green, acuminate, enwrapping the ovary and forming a basally swollen tubular sheath 1.8–8.5 mm. long, up to 6 mm. wide opened out, covered with slender hairs and short-stalked or stalkless circular resin-secreting glands.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
Ovary ± globose, ± 1–1.2 mm. in diameter; stigmas slender, 1.2–7 mm. long, deciduous.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Achene (“seed ”, actually consisting of the seed with a hard shell tightly covered by the thin ovary wall) ellipsoid or subglobose, slightly compressed, keeled, shiny, 2.5–5 mm. long, 2–3.5 mm. wide, greyish to brownish and usually covered with a pale “ map-like ” network.
Figures
Fig. 1.
Habitat
Widely and illegally cultivated as a drug plant, also frequent as a weed of cultivation; 0–2100 m.
Distribution
K3 K4 K5 P T1 T3 T4 T6 T7 U2 U3 U4 Z a central Asian plant now widely cultivated and naturalized throughout the world
[FTEA]

Cannabaceae, C. M. Wilmot-Dear. Flora Zambesiaca 9:6. 1991

Morphology General Habit
An erect, rank smelling, annual herb up to 2(4.5) m. tall; male plants taller and more slender with longer narrower leaflets than the female, dying soon after flowering; female plants short, more robust, with densely leafy inflorescences, the plants living for several months after pollination.
Morphology General Indumentum
Indumentum of most parts consisting of minute appressed swollen-based hairs.
Morphology Stem
Stems simple or branched, leafy, angular, often with hollow internodes.
Morphology Leaves
Leaves 3–7(11)-digitately-foliolate; petiole 2–6 cm. long; stipule to 1.4 cm. long, linear, acute; leaflets sessile, 2.5–15 x 0.35–2 cm., narrowly lanceolate, tapering acuminate at the apex, narrowly cuneate at the base; margin coarsely dentate to serrate-biserrate; lamina membranous-chartaceous, shortly coarsely-hairy and yellow-glandular on both surfaces, penninerved, midrib prominent beneath.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Male and female flowers rarely both on 1 plant, if so then 1 predominating. Female flowers ± sessile; enveloping bracteole 2–8 mm. long, green; perianth thin, undivided, enveloping ovary and mature fruit (often reduced or absent in cultivated forms); ovary sessile, c. 1 mm. in diam., ± globose; stigma branches (1)2–5 mm. long, pubescent, caducous. Male flowers small, pedicellate, regular: pedicels to 7 mm. long; perianth lobes free, greenish or white, 3–4 x 1 mm., oblong-elliptic, boat-shaped, spreading or reflexed, appressed-pubescent outside; stamens at length pendulous, filaments 0.3–1 mm. long, anthers 3-- mm. long.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Male inflorescences numerous, loosely cymose-paniculate, sparsely leafy, up to 20(30) cm. long, few to more than 20-flowered; bracts to c. 15 mm. long, bristly-hairy. Female inflorescence short, crowded or strobilate, few-flowered, densely leafy; bracts often shorter than in male flowers.
sex Male
Male inflorescences numerous, loosely cymose-paniculate, sparsely leafy, up to 20(30) cm. long, few to more than 20-flowered; bracts to c. 15 mm. long, bristly-hairy. Male flowers small, pedicellate, regular: pedicels to 7 mm. long; perianth lobes free, greenish or white, 3–4 x 1 mm., oblong-elliptic, boat-shaped, spreading or reflexed, appressed-pubescent outside; stamens at length pendulous, filaments 0.3–1 mm. long, anthers 3-- mm. long.
sex Female
Female flowers ± sessile; enveloping bracteole 2–8 mm. long, green; perianth thin, undivided, enveloping ovary and mature fruit (often reduced or absent in cultivated forms); ovary sessile, c. 1 mm. in diam., ± globose; stigma branches (1)2–5 mm. long, pubescent, caducous. Female inflorescence short, crowded or strobilate, few-flowered, densely leafy; bracts often shorter than in male flowers.
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruit 3–4 x 2–3.5 mm., globular to ovoid, surface uniformly coloured, pale with a prominent reticulate pattern of venation or, where a persistent perianth is present, shiny brownish or greyish, mottled with a light and dark marbled pattern, venation visible beneath.
[FZ]

Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Distribution
Cultivada en Colombia; Alt. 1500 - 2600 m.; Andes, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
Morphology General Habit
Hierba
[CPLC]

Cannabinaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958

Vernacular
The Common, European or Indian Hemp.
[FWTA]

Distribution
Biogeografic region: Andean. Elevation range: 1500–2600 m a.s.l. Cultivated in Colombia. Naturalised in Colombia. Colombian departments: Antioquia, Bogotá DC, Caquetá, Cauca, Chocó, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Quindío, Tolima, Valle del Cauca.
Habit
Herb.
Ecology
Habitat according IUCN Habitats Classification: forest and woodland, savanna, shrubland, artificial - terrestrial.
[UPFC]

Bernal, R., G. Galeano, A. Rodríguez, H. Sarmiento y M. Gutiérrez. 2017. Nombres Comunes de las Plantas de Colombia. http://www.biovirtual.unal.edu.co/nombrescomunes/

Vernacular
bareta, cáñamo, cáñamo de la India, cáñamo índico, maracachafa, mariguana, marihuana, marimba, mona
[UNAL]

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

Uses

Use Animal Food
Used as animal food.
Use Fuel
Used for fuels.
Use Food
Used for food.
Use Materials
Used as material.
Use Medicines
Medical uses.
Use Poisons
Poisons.
Use Social
Social uses.
[UPFC]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora Zambesiaca

    • Flora Zambesiaca
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Universidad Nacional de Colombia

    • ColPlantA database
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0