Cannabis (Cán-na-bis) is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa subsp. indica L., Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa Lam., and Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. These three taxa are indigenous to central Asia and surrounding regions. Cannabis has long been used for fibre (hemp), for medicinal purposes, and as a psychoactive. Industrial hemp products are made from Cannabis plants selected to produce an abundance of fiber and minimal levels of THC (Δ⁹- tetrahydrocannabinol), one psychoactive molecule that produces the "high" associated with marijuana. The drug consists of dried flowers and leaves of plants selected to produce high levels of THC. Various extracts including hashish and hash oil are also produced.Erowid. 2006. Cannabis Basics. Retrieved on 25 Feb 2007 The cultivation and possession of Cannabis for recreational use is outlawed in most countries.

Etymology

main: Cannabis (etymology) The plant name cannabis is from Greek lang: κάνναβις (lang: kánnabis), via Latin lang: cannabis, a Scythian or Thracian word, also loaned into Persian as lang: kanab. English hemp (Old English lang: hænep) may be an early loan (predating Grimm's Law) from the same source. In Hebrew, the word is קַנַּבּוֹס 1. Old Akkadian qunnabtu, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian qunnabu were used to refer to the plant.

The further origin of the Scythian term is uncertain.

Description

Cannabis is an annual, dioecious, flowering herb. The leaves are palmately compound, with serrate leaflets. The first pair of leaves usually have a single leaflet, the number gradually increasing up to a maximum of about thirteen leaflets per leaf (usually seven or nine), depending on variety and growing conditions. At the top of a flowering plant, this number again diminishes to a single leaflet per leaf. The lower leaf pairs usually occur in an opposite leaf arrangement and the upper leaf pairs in an alternate arrangement on the main stem of a mature plant.

Cannabis usually has imperfect flowers with staminate "male" and pistillate "female" flowers occurring on separate plants,Lebel-Hardenack, S. and S. R. Grant. 1997. Genetics of sex determination in flowering plants. Trends in Plant Science 2(4): 130–136. although hermaphroditic plants sometimes occur.Cristiana Moliterni, V. M., L. Cattivelli, P. Ranalli. and G. Mandolino. 2005. The sexual differentiation of Cannabis sativa L.: A morphological and molecular study. Euphytica 140(1-2): 95-106. Retrieved on 25 Feb 2007 Male flowers are borne on loose panicles, and female flowers are borne on racemes. Bouquet, R. J. 1950. Cannabis. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved on 23 Feb 2007 It is not unusual for individual plants to bear both male and female flowers, though these are referred to as 'intersexual' or hermaphroditic rather than monoecious, since staminate and pistillate structures appear at different points on the plant, not within the same flower.