Wild

Wild cannabis strains: Cannabis is an ancient domesticate. Because the species has been spread and modified by humans for millennia, it’s unlikely there are any pristine populations of truly wild Cannabis. As Ernest Small writes, “wild-growing plants of Cannabis sativa L., insofar as has been determined, are either escapes from domesticated forms or the results of thousands of years of widespread genetic exchange with domesticated plants.”

However, Nikolai Vavilov believed wild-type Cannabis has diversified naturally into ‘races’. He posited distinct Central Asian and South Asian ‘Centres of Diversity’ in which wild populations of Cannabis independently underwent domestication. After extensive study of herbarium specimens, McPartland and Small concluded that there is indeed such a pattern of naturally selected variation in subsp. indica, and that several populations of wild-growing and landrace drug-type Cannabis merit recognition as formal botanical varieties. In line with Vavilov, McPartland and Small identified two main wild-type populations, namely South Asian (var. himalayensis) and Central Asian (var. asperrima). These intersect around northern Pakistan and correspond, respectively, to the two main types of traditional domesticate, namely var. indica (Sativas) and var. afghanica (Indicas).

If you’re wondering how all this relates to so-called ‘Ruderalis’, see this paper on the vernacular taxonomy and the new study on endangered indigenous populations by Small and McPartland.

Wild-type Cannabis is a crucial resource for crop breeders. These populations have a very broad genetic base and are likely to have developed numerous adaptations to disease, pests, and adverse conditions such as extremes of climate. They’re also a potential source from which to recreate now-extinct domesticates (e.g., landraces). Only very recently have significant efforts have been made by public germplasm banks to create adequate long-term stores of subsp. indica landraces, and stores of their wild-growing relatives remain very limited.

Seeds of wild-type Cannabis exhibit slow and staggered germination. Where cultivation is legal, see this ‘Note on germinating wild Cannabis seeds’.