Indicas

Indica-type cannabis landraces. Classic Indicas are compact, early maturing plants with broad oblanceolate leaflets, ‘skunky’ aromas, and sedative effects, according to the vernacular taxonomy popular among cannabis cultivators and consumers. The best formal classification for Indicas is C. sativa subsp. indica var. afghanica.

Indicas likely originated in Central Asia around the Hindu Kush, Transoxiana, and Xinjiang. Historically, these landrace domesticates were cultivated in desert oasis centres such as Yarkand and Bukhara for the production of charas / hashish (i.e., dry-sieved, agglutinated resin glands). Today, the most ancient continuous centre of this tradition is Afghanistan, most notably Balkh.

Authentic pristine Indicas are increasingly rare. This is primarily because of extinction through hybridization with modern Indica–Sativa hybrids, which is the main cause of biodiversity loss in Cannabis and is largely driven by Western travellers and wealthy Asians. In the West and Asia, cannabis populations are rapidly becoming ever more homogeneous.

Crucial to grasp is that real Indica landraces from Central Asia have no history of domestication for production of sinsemilla. They’re a bulk-selected crop for dry-sieved hashish, not bud. See this recent blog post by Angus: What’s the difference between landrace Indicas and heirloom Indicas?

Populations of an authentic Indica landrace typically segregate into Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 chemotypes. Only Type 1 individuals can show high ratios and high levels of THC. Types 2 and 3 are balanced THC:CBD or high-CBD.

Intensively selected heirloom Indicas such as Deep Chunk, X18, and Afghaan 90 are available in the Heirloom category. These are modern sinsemilla cultivars – i.e., they show across the population Type 1 (high-THC) chemotype.

Similarly, Greek heirlooms such as Kalamata Red, Moliotiko, and Arcadian have undergone many decades of selection for use as sinsemilla and are consistently high-THC.

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