What is a cannabis plant?
The cannabis plant is an annual with the botanical name Cannabis sativa L. It has been cultivated for thousands of years: for fibre, for seed, and for the compounds produced in its flowers.
Male and female plants
Cannabis is dioecious: male and female plants are separate. Male plants produce pollen; female plants produce flowers. Only those female flowers contain meaningful quantities of active compounds.
If a female plant is not pollinated, it produces no seed and puts its energy into the flowers instead. Such unpollinated flowers are called sinsemilla, from the Spanish for “without seed”.
How the plant is built
- Roots: take up water and nutrients.
- Stem: supports the plant and transports moisture.
- Fan leaves: the large, recognisable leaves that carry out photosynthesis.
- Sugar leaves: smaller leaves among the flowers.
- Buds: the flower clusters of the female plant.
- Trichomes: microscopic resin glands on the flowers and sugar leaves, where cannabinoids and terpenes are produced.
The growth stages
- Germination: the seed opens and forms a root.
- Seedling stage: the first true leaves appear.
- Vegetative stage: the plant invests in leaves, stem and roots.
- Flowering stage: flowers form and trichomes develop.
In most varieties, flowering is triggered by a change in daily light hours. In so-called autoflowering varieties it happens with age, regardless of light.
What it produces
The trichomes produce more than a hundred cannabinoids. The best known are THC, responsible for the psychoactive effect, and CBD, which has no such effect.
Terpenes determine aroma and taste. Myrcene, limonene, pinene and caryophyllene are the most common, and they occur widely in other plants too: limonene in citrus peel, pinene in conifers.
Hemp and cannabis
Hemp and cannabis are botanically the same species. The distinction is legal and rests on THC content. Hemp contains very little and is grown for fibre, seed and oil. Varieties with high THC content fall under the Dutch Opium Act.
Sources
This article is general information and not advice. Cannabis use is not without risk. For independent information and help, contact the Trimbos Institute, Drugsinfo or your doctor.