You've done a bit of research on the origins of cannabis. Is the difference between indica and sativa as simple as thin and fat leaves?
There is some new genetic based work by Karl Hillig at Indiana University, trying to work out the taxonomy of Cannabis. The main thing, is that all that Cannabis Sativa really should represent, is the narrow leaf hemp varieties from Western Europe which spread to a few other places like Chile and possibly New Mexico, and everything else should be called Cannabis Indica. I’m now using this new system - until some taxonomist changes it again!
What changed the system?
Looking at the direct gene products of cannabis. The gene technology as well as looking at cannabinoid data, THC, terpene data and other plants.
So are we smoking any Sativa at all these days?
Actually we don’t smoke sativas, it is all indicas. All the rest of the world’s hemp, drug, medical, seed and other varieties should most likely be called the indica variety. There are four different subgroups of indica that are now recognised. Cannabis Indica Biotype Afghanica is what we call Indica now. Cannabis Indica Biotype Chinensis is broad-leafed hemp from China, Japan & Korea. Cannabis Indica Spontania is from North India, Nepali, Burma. These were called the drug sativas but are now better called Cannabis Indica Indica. Cannabis Indica Caferus Anacus may represent the wild “feral” types that the other domesticated subgroups came from.
To make it easier we should just go back to what they look like. Let’s forget about where they come from. We should call what we think of as hemp from Europe, as Narrow leafed hemp. The other hemp is Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Northern Vietnam. These are broad-leafed hemp. They are not as low in THC or as high in CBD (cannabidiol) as the European ones but they are not drugs. And then you have the two drug cannabis gene pools which would be narrow leafed drug high THC varieties - Indian , Nepali, Thai, Indonesian, African, Mexican and Columbian, with narrow leafs and high THC . Afghan varieties which are now called Indica, erroneously, should be called Broad leafed drug varieties . Now of course we have hybrids of narrow and brood leafed but no hybrids of Sativa, the narrow leafed hemp. So actually the only true Indica-Sativa hybrids are hemp, and what people smoke are all Indicas.
Abstract Sample populations of 157 Cannabis accessions of diverse geographic origin were surveyed for allozyme variation at 17 gene loci. The frequencies of 52 alleles were subjected to principal components analysis. A scatter plot revealed two major groups of accessions. The sativa gene pool includes fiber/seed landraces from Europe, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, and ruderal populations from Eastern Europe. The indica gene pool includes fiber/seed landraces from eastern Asia, narrow-leafleted drug strains from southern Asia, Africa, and Latin America, wide-leafleted drug strains from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and feral populations from India and Nepal. A third putative gene pool includes ruderal populations from Central Asia. None of the previous taxonomic concepts that were tested adequately circumscribe the sativa and indica gene pools. A polytypic concept of Cannabis is proposed, which recognizes three species, C. sativa, C. indica and C. ruderalis, and seven putative taxa.
...
Chemotaxonomic differentiation
The a priori assignment of accessions to C. sativa and C. indica based on geographic origins and differences in allozyme allele frequencies is consistent with significant differences in cannabinoid levels and BT allele frequencies between the two species. Recognition of C. ruderalis is not supported by the chemotaxonomic evidence because no significant differences were found between ruderal accessions from central Asia and eastern Europe. These results are consistent with Vavilov's two-species concept and his interpretation that C. ruderalis is synonymous with C. sativa var. spontanea Vav. (Vavilov, 1926 ; Vavilov and Bukinich, 1929 ).
This study confirms that the THC/CBD ratio of individual Cannabis plants can be assigned to one of three discrete chemotypes. The limits between chemotypes coincide with those reported by Vollner et al. (1986) . As expected, plants with high levels of THC were common within the two drug biotypes of C. indica. However, plants with relatively high levels of THC were also common within the hemp and feral biotypes of this species. In contrast, most plants assigned to C. sativa had relatively low levels of THC. Because chemotype I, II, and III plants were found in both species, the chemotype of an individual plant is of limited use for chemotaxonomic determination of species membership.
It was estimated that chemotype I individuals comprised <25% of each population for all but two of the 89 accessions assigned to C. sativa and >25% of each population for all but four of the 62 accessions assigned to C. indica. This appears to be a reasonable guideline for differentiation of the two species, in conjunction with other taxonomic traits. The advantage of this approach over the method of Small and Cronquist (1976) for differentiating sativa from indica (regardless of taxonomic rank) is that the frequency of chemotype I plants in a given population is stable from one generation to the next (assuming Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium) and not influenced by biotic and abiotic factors that affect the quantitative production of cannabinoids. For populations that have been purposely selected for a fixed chemotype, geographic origin and morphological traits are better indicators of species membership (Hillig, 2004 , in press).
Small and Beckstead (1973a) reported that chemotype I strains usually originate from countries south of latitude 30°N and that chemotype II and III strains usually originate from countries north of this latitude. In the present study, nearly all accessions having a relatively low BT frequency (<0.4) originated from latitudes north of 35°N. However, several accessions with a relatively high BT frequency (>0.4) also originated from above this latitude, including drug accessions from Afghanistan and Pakistan and hemp accessions from China, Japan, and South Korea. It appears that the range of C. sativa in Europe and Asia does not extend below about 35°N latitude, whereas the range of C. indica extends both above and below this latitude (Hillig, 2004 ).
The propyl side-chain homologs of CBD and THC are also of chemotaxonomic significance. Elevated levels of CBDV and/or THCV were much more common in plants of C. indica than in plants of C. sativa. Plants with elevated levels of THCV, sometimes exceeding THC, were detected in all four biotypes of C. indica, but not in all accessions. Segregation ratios in F2 populations from controlled crosses between low and high THCV individuals indicate that at least two loci control this trait (de Meijer et al., 2003 ; K. Hillig, unpublished data). The gene(s) controlling the enhanced biosynthesis of propyl cannabinoids appear to have originated in C. indica and not to have spread appreciably into C. sativa.
Then the plates separated and our races were divided or we actually evolved by region..and same with the Cannabis plant and most biological life forms..IMO..
btw the Karl Hillig study is more defined as far as Variety or "Race" and region goes and base DNA study or the Latest from what Ive found..
© 2004 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
A chemotaxonomic analysis of cannabinoid variation in Cannabis (Cannabaceae)1
Karl W. Hillig2 and Paul G. Mahlberg
http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/6/966
FOE20
MOSES & MARIJUANA
The first mention of kaneh-bosm in the Old Testament appears with the prophet-shaman Moses. At the beginning of his shamanic career, Moses discovered the angel of the Lord in flames of fire from within a bush.
It is later in his life however, that a definite reference to cannabis is made. Sula Benet explains this reference as follows:
The sacred character of hemp in biblical times is evident from Exodus 30:22-33, where Moses was instructed by God to anoint the meeting tent and all its furnishings with specially prepared oil, containing hemp.
Anointing set sacred things apart from secular. The anointment of sacred objects was an ancient tradition in Israel: holy oil was not to be used for secular purposes...
Above all, the anointing oil was used for the installation rites of all Hebrew kings and priests.
This first reference to kaneh-bosm is the only that describes it as an ointment to be applied externally. However, anointing oils made with cannabis are indeed psychoactive and have been used by such seemingly diverse groups as 19th century occultists and medieval witches (4).
Closer to Moses' own time, cannabis was used as a topical hallucinogen by the ancient worshippers of Asherah, the Queen of Heaven. Asherah has also been referred to as the Hebrew Goddess (5).
The shamanistic Ashera priestesses of pre-reformation Jerusalem mixed cannabis resins with those from myrrh, balsam, frankincense, and perfumes, and then anointed their skins with the mixture as well as burned it (6).
Shanon wrote that he was very familiar with the affects of the ayahuasca plant, having “partaken of the ... brew about 160 times in various locales and contexts.”
He said one of the psychoactive plants, harmal, found in the Sinai and elsewhere in the Middle East, has long been regarded by Jews in the region as having magical and curative powers.