Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado please allow me to introduce the centerpiece of this electronic gathering, Cannabaceae Cannabis Sativa!
I would kindly ask that while visiting this site you please refrain from using the “m” word; after all it was first assigned to make the plant sound more foreign and therefore more dangerous to the public ear. But we will talk more about that later.
Botanically speaking, Cannabis is related to the Rose bush, the Elm, and even the Olive tree. Believe it or not, she is even kissing cousins with another much beloved plant to humans, hops.
Did you know...
Her full name is Plantae Streptophyta Equisetopsida Magnoliidae Rosales Cannabaceae Cannabis Sativa
The market today will lead you to believe there are hundreds of “strains” of Cannabis, but most modern botanists would say it's all Sativa. Scientifically the argument can be made that there isn't enough differentiation to warrant division in species.
Yet at the same time, many support a division between Sativa and Indica. Supporters of this position cite differences in plant growth patterns, leaf structure, and chemical structure.
There is also a strong argument for a third member of the family, Cannabis Rudialis. Not only is Rudialis totally different in growth, leaf, and chemical breakdown, it does not rely on light cycles to trigger the growth shift from vegetative growth to budding. For this reason many Cannabis growers crossbreed Rudialis with a Sativa or an Indica to achieve what is known as "auto flower" Cannabis. This species might also very well be the oldest medicinal plant used by humankind.
So about now you might be wondering "how about hemp products?" Believe it or not, once again it is cannabis sativa we use to grow hemp products. The difference is in the way they are grown.
If you want to grow your own smoke, you put one plant in maybe 5 or more gallons of soil. If you were planting hemp, you would plant up to 25 or 30 plants in the same area. This causes them to grow much more like bamboo. The plants compete for light, leading to tall single stalk growth with no branches topped with one primary cola, which is a tight mass of tiny buds and small sugar leaves crowning the plant.
Grown for hemp cannabis may grow as tall as 15+ feet. This provides a very long stem made up of extremely strong fibers that can be used to produce every thing from paper to fabric. Hemp also been proven to be extremely effective in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. One ton of cotton emits almost 1.8 tons of carbon into the atmosphere, whereas one ton of hemp will REMOVE almost 1.7 tons from the atmosphere!
Did you know...
The original Levi's jeans were well known to be some of the toughest pants on the market; it was because they were made from hemp fiber.