Fossilised Cannabis Reveals The Plant is 27.8 Million Years Old
By Philip Ghezelbash (RxLeaf) 12.06.2019
The fascinating evolution of the original land
race cannabis plant…
The cannabis market has exploded, and as
growers learn more about using different
strains to their advantage, a wide variety of
these have emerged.
They hold particular intrigue for historians,
scientists, and purists.
“Clocking” the Age of Cannabis
Scientists have long searched for cannabis’s
origin. Or, at the very least, for the original
wild landrace strain of this infamous
medicinal plant.
Common thought placed the original plant in
locations across Asia.
However, scientists weren’t so sure of the
precise original location.
That was until recently when a study of
fossilised pollen found the location of the first
cannabis species.
Cannabis historians believed landrace strains originated in Asia
But all this variety has its origins somewhere.
Actually, we can trace all cannabis strains to
a small number of original cannabis plants
known as landrace strains.
What Exactly is a Landrace Strain?
A landrace strain is essentially an isolated
plant that has not been crossbred with other
cannabis varieties.
They tend to be indigenous to specific
regions, and developed their particular
qualities as the strain adapted to their unique
environment.
As such, landrace strains are often named in
accordance with their region: Pure Afghan,
Durban Poison, Panama Red, and so on
Landrace really only refers to the genetic
purity of a cannabis strain.
Landrace strains won’t necessarily produce a
better product. In fact, the reason there are so
many crossbred strains on the market is that
breeding a plant for a specific trait ensures a
specific, quality finished product.
Being genetically closer to the original wild
cannabis species is really the main drawcard
for landrace strains.
Accurately determining when and where
cannabis evolved was extremely difficult due
to the lack of a strong print fossil record –
impression of leaves or fruits in rocks.
For a plant, like cannabis, that lacks a good
fossil record, paleobotanists can use a
“molecular clock”.
This allows them to estimate when cannabis
and its sister species Humulus (hops)
diverged from a common ancestor.
Hops and cannabis derive from the same common ancestor.
The molecular clock uses DNA to measure
time, and calibrates the clock with fossil dates
of related plants.
Using this method, they estimated that
cannabis first diverged from a common
ancestor 27.8 million years ago.