Nepalese Mountain Ganja

Description

Genetics: Himalayan ‘Mountain Ganja’ Cannabis Landrace
Sourcing: The Real Seed Company, Makwanpur, Nepal Himalaya, 2022 Harvest
Purpose: ‘Ganja’ (bud) and garda charas (sieved resin)
Latitude: 27° N
Harvest: October
Height: 2 – 5 metres outdoors
Aroma: Floral, ganja, spicy, herbal
Characteristics: Soaring high, hardy, humidity tolerant
Classification: Cannabis sativa subsp. indica var. himalayensis x Cannabis sativa subsp. indica var. indica
Grow Type: Greenhouse or outdoors

A highland Nepali cannabis landrace (i.e., domesticate) cultivated for production of ‘mountain ganja’ and garda charas in alpine areas of Central and Mid-West Nepal.

This is a different type of crop from the two other main types of cannabis domesticate found in Nepal, which are the multipurpose Himalayan seed-fibre-charas plants of alpine areas and the ‘Sativa-type’ ganja domesticates of the tropics.

Seeds of this ‘mountain ganja’ type are mottled and smaller than those of typical Himalayan multipurpose cannabis plants. Potency is markedly higher and aromas are redolent of ganja. However, this crop is not true ganja: bud is often as not seeded; plants are much earlier maturing; and architecture is more irregular.

Sourced in the highlands south of Kathmandu, which are closely connected to the Terai, these ‘mountain ganja’ populations may have been affected by the large-scale ganja cultivation introduced to lowland Nepal by Indian groups in the late 1930s, following the collapse of the Trans-Himalayan charas trade. Perhaps the mountain ganja type originates from hybridization between tropical ganja cannabis domesticates and the early maturing wild-type stands of alpine Nepal. Notably, ganja cultivation in the Terai dates back to at least the 18th Century.

Also see our accession ‘Dakshinkali’.