Kazakh

Description

Genetics: Wild-type Kazakh Cannabis
Sourcing: Russian Landrace Bureau in Jambyl, Kazakhstan, 2019
Purpose: n/a
Latitude: 44° N
Harvest: Early to late August
Height: 2–5 meters
Aroma: Intensely pungent and sweet, fruit, melon
Characteristics: Very early maturing to day-neutral (‘autoflowering’)
Grow Type: Outdoors, greenhouse

New 2023 seeds – Please freeze as cold as possible before attempting germination

Wild-type Kazakh Cannabis seeds collected in the northwestern Tien Shan range, specifically in the southern Qarataū, a name of Turkic origin meaning ‘Black Mountains’.

Plants can exceed 4 meters and are heavily branched, with large colas that are denser than might be expected for wild-type Cannabis. Leaflets are predominantly narrow. Buds are intensely aromatic.

This accession originates from a broad region of eastern Central Asia that was among the earliest centres of Cannabis domestication. The crop was likely crucial to the first human settlement of this region’s grasslands and desert oases. Millennia of cultivation has innevitably affected any true wild populations, as the Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov understood in the 1920s.

Cannabis is well-adapted to the desert–steppe of the Qarataū, with its meltwater-fed streams. The environment is similar to the likely centre of origin of the species, which is the Qinghai Plateau of eastern Tibet. This is where Cannabis apparently diverged from its nearest relative, Humulus, some 28 million years ago.

Archaeological finds from late-Bronze and early Iron-Age Central Asia provide among the earliest evidence for the use of Cannabis as an ‘intoxicant’. The nomadic and settled cultures to the west of Han-dominated China appear to have attached great significance to getting high, whether shamanically or recreationally. It’s in this broad region that the THC-dominant subspecies, Cannabis sativa subsp. indica (Small & Cronquist), was probably first domesticated.

This accession is difficult to classify due to the complex history of Cannabis in Kazakhstan, where drug-type and fibre-type domesticates have been introduced extensively in the modern era. Nevertheless, its very early finish, likely drug plant ancestory, and adaptation to drought conditons give it excellent potential for use in breeding projects. As a repository of biodiversity, like all wild-type accessions, it’s invaluable.

PLEASE NOTE: Seeds of wild-type Cannabis exhibit slow and uneven germination.