landrace phenos from s1 seeds....

[indifferent]

but what about FAT LEAFS,,,,???,,,,,,im sure its the fatleaf trait is localized to Afghan, China, Kush, Paki them sorta regions.....didnt Rob Clarke say the same too!!

I don't have a copy of MJ Botany anymore so not sure. Those indica fat leaved pics above are all wild Chinese plants, that genotype travelled down the silk road to Afghanistan. The silk road goes all the way to Greece and interestingly, pretty much everywhere along the silk road, including Greece, has a hash-making tradition.

What I don't get is how the climatic conditions in central Africa, e.g. The Congo, would cause plants to evolve fat, broad leaves. In short, it wouldn't, so if you find a short, fat plant in a Congo line, it indicates a genetic heritage from elsewhere.

Why on earth would a plant need broad, fat leaves in The Congo where the sun is so intense? Why would a plant need the thick, waxy, dark leaves of an Afghan (adaptation to cold climate) in The Congo?

It doesn't make sense, and no, it's not natural variation, natural variation would not stretch so far as to produce an indica profile, it would be variation on a much smaller scale, as is seen in many landraces, yes they are varied, but unless genes from elsewhere have been introduced, they don't vary so much as to produce an 'Afghan' type plant!

I can think of a good example of a landrace that has maybe been around almost 500 years and most certainly does not contain short, fat, broad-leafed plants - Highland Oaxacan Gold. The Spanish introduced hemp to Mexico in the early 1500s, and the Central Valley of Oaxaca was one of the places they cultivated it intensively. It also happens to be one of the first places where selective plant breeding was carried out. It was in the Central Valley of Oaxaca that Maize/Corn was bred from wild Teosinte grass, Teosinto being found in caves in Oaxaca occupied by humans 4000 years ago.

The introduction of cannabis to a culture already highly skilled in agriculture and selective plant breeding resulted in the most legendary of Mexican cannabis strains - Highland Oaxacan gold. No-one knows how long it took for the Spanish hemp to become the fabled golden ganja, but I suspect not very long, probably a couple of decades.

So to me, Highland Oaxacan Gold is a classic example of a cannabis landrace, we know how long it has existed (roughly) and what genes went into it's creation (early Spanish hemp crops). No-one has ever reported seeing anything short, fat and broad-leaved out of the Oaxacan genepool. The nighttime temperature year-round in Oaxaca is 15-16C, the daytime temps range from 24 to 34C, the humidity is low, the UV levels extremely high, precipitation low, it is in the tropics, roughly 13N. So, anyone care to tell me how a 'Afghan' type indica could possibly evolve in that climate?

 

[Thule]

Indiddrent pretty much nailed it. Much of Central Asia and the Himalayan region is mixed with Chinese genetics. Just look at the pictures, that's where fat leaves came from, along with purple coloration. Most of the time I'm looking for lines free of Chinese influence, it's surprisingly hard as most of South East Asian strains are from that genepool too.

Does Oaxacan Gold have pink haired phenotypes?

 

[indifferent]

Hi Thule, good to see you are still around!

All SE Asian cannabis probably comes originally from China, Sam Skunkman says if you grow enough Thais you will find some that resemble the original Chinese phenotype. There is a strong theory that all cannabis originates in China, but I don't think this has been conclusively proved yet. Good luck on your search, I am going to grow out some Chinese Indicas soon I think, I have three separate lines from Yunnan, Dali and Sichuan. Thais, I done my time with them, I doubt I will grow a pure one again, certainly not indoors, I must have grown hundreds of em over the years, 22 weeks to get a tree bearing 5g of mind-blowing shit is not productive enough! I happen to have an exceptional (imho) Thai hybrid I made with a Purple Afghan, it produces 75% purple plants, 25% pink plants in the f1 generation, but they are all pretty Thai dominant, which is strange to me as the colour comes from the Afghan. The Thai was one of those 22 week gram yielding monsters, lemon/lemongrass taste. The Afghan is accrid lemons with a little hash in the background, so the two blended very nicely, and the high is still up, up and away. Only problem is spider mites love it, and I lost the plants I had, so need to ressurrect the line from seed. When I do I'm gonna make a bunch of f2s, aiming to stabilise for an intensely purple Thai type. After that, I'll do some outcrosses to some others sats, starting with the Oaxacan in imitation of the work of DJ Short and Sam S. Skunk is an f2 Afghan x Colombian crossed to an Acapulco Gold and DJ combined two Thais, an Afghan and an Oaxacan to make the Blue family, so you see where my inspiration lies.

Not sure if there are pink pistilled phenos of the Oaxacan or not, I've not grown many Oaxacans (yet - just starting a run of more) but there are definitely pink pistilled Mexican varieties.

 

[englishrick]

i thought this was cool,,,

id rather post the link than try ans explain it myself

“Hemp” refers primarily to Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae), although the term has been applied to dozens of species representing at least 22 genera, often prominent fiber crops. For examples, Manila hemp (abaca) is Musa textilis Née, sisal hemp is Agave sisalina Perrine, and sunn hemp is Crotolaria juncea L. Especially confusing is the phrase “Indian hemp,” which has been used both for narcotic Asian land races of C. sativa (so-called C. indica Lamarck of India) and Apocynum cannabinum L., which was used by North American Indians as a fiber plant. Cannabis sativa is a multi-purpose plant that has been domesticated for bast (phloem) fiber in the stem, a multi-purpose fixed oil in the “seeds” (achenes), and an intoxicating resin secreted by epidermal glands. The common names hemp and marijuana (much less frequently spelled marihuana) have been applied loosely to all three forms, although historically hemp has been used primarily for the fiber cultigen and its fiber preparations, and marijuana for the drug cultigen and its drug preparations. The current hemp industry is making great efforts to point out that “hemp is not marijuana.” Italicized, Cannabis refers to the biological name of the plant (only one species of this genus is commonly recognized, C. sativa L.). Non-italicized, “cannabis” is a generic abstraction, widely used as a noun and adjective, and commonly (often loosely) used both for cannabis plants and/or any or all of the intoxicant preparations made from them.

Probably indigenous to temperate Asia, C. sativa is the most widely cited example of a “camp follower.” It was pre-adapted to thrive in the manured soils around man’s early settlements, which quickly led to its domestication (Schultes 1970). Hemp was harvested by the Chinese 8500 years ago (Schultes and Hofmann 1980). For most of its history, C. sativa was most valued as a fiber source, considerably less so as an intoxicant, and only to a limited extent as an oilseed crop. Hemp is one of the oldest sources of textile fiber, with extant remains of hempen cloth trailing back 6 millennia. Hemp grown for fiber was introduced to western Asia and Egypt, and subsequently to Europe somewhere between 1000 and 2000 BCE. Cultivation in Europe became widespread after 500 ce. The crop was first brought to South America in 1545, in Chile, and to North America in Port Royal, Acadia in 1606. The hemp industry flourished in Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois between 1840 and 1860 because of the strong demand for sailcloth and cordage (Ehrensing 1998). From the end of the Civil War until 1912, virtually all hemp in the US was produced in Kentucky. During World War I, some hemp cultivation occurred in several states, including Kentucky, Wisconsin, California, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, and Iowa (Ehrensing 1998). The second world war led to a brief revival of hemp cultivation in the Midwest, as well as in Canada, because the war cut off supplies of fiber (substantial renewed cultivation also occurred in Germany for the same reason). Until the beginning of the 19th century, hemp was the leading cordage fiber. Until the middle of the 19th century, hemp rivaled flax as the chief textile fiber of vegetable origin, and indeed was described as “the king of fiber-bearing plants,—the standard by which all other fibers are measured” (Boyce 1900). Nevertheless, the Marihuana Tax Act applied in 1938 essentially ended hemp production in the United States, although a small hemp fiber industry continued in Wisconsin until 1958. Similarly in 1938 the cultivation of Cannabis became illegal in Canada under the Opium and Narcotics Act

There is great variation in Cannabis sativa, because of disruptive domestication for fiber, oilseed, and narcotic resin, and there are features that tend to distinguish these three cultigens (cultivated phases) from each other. Moreover, density of cultivation is used to accentuate certain architectural features. Figure 5 illustrates the divergent appearances of the basic agronomic categories of Cannabis in typical field configurations

Fig. 5. Typical architecture of categories of cultivated Cannabis sativa. Top left: narcotic plants are generally low, highly branched, and grown well-spaced. Top right: plants grown for oilseed were traditionally well-spaced, and the plants developed medium height and strong branching. Bottom left: fiber cultivars are grown at high density, and are unbranched and very tall. Bottom center: “dual purpose” plants are grown at moderate density, tend to be slightly branched and of medium to tall height. Bottom right: some recent oilseed cultivars are grown at moderate density and are short and relatively unbranched. Degree of branching and height are determined both by the density of the plants and their genetic background.

Highly selected forms of the fiber cultigen possess features maximizing fiber production. Since the nodes tend to disrupt the length of the fiber bundles, thereby limiting quality, tall, relatively unbranched plants with long internodes have been selected. Another strategy has been to select stems that are hollow at the internodes, with limited wood, since this maximizes production of fiber in relation to supporting woody tissues. Similarly, limited seed productivity concentrates the plant’s energy into production of fiber, and fiber cultivars often have low genetic propensity for seed output. Selecting monoecious strains overcomes the problem of differential maturation times and quality of male (staminate) and female (pistillate) plants (males mature 1–3 weeks earlier). Male plants in general are taller, albeit slimmer, less robust, and less productive. Except for the troublesome characteristic of dying after anthesis, male traits are favored for fiber production, in contrast to the situation for drug strains noted below. In former, labor-intensive times, the male plants were harvested earlier than the females, to produce superior fiber. The limited branching of fiber cultivars is often compensated for by possession of large leaves with wide leaflets, which obviously increase the photosynthetic ability of the plants. Since fiber plants have not generally been selected for narcotic purposes, the level of intoxicating constituents is usually limited.

An absence of such fiber-strain traits as tallness, limited branching, long internodes, and very hollow stems, is characteristic of narcotic strains. Drug forms have historically been grown in areas south of the north-temperate zone, often close to the equator, and are photoperiodically adapted to a long season. When grown in north-temperate climates maturation is much-delayed until late fall, or the plants succumb to cold weather before they are able to produce seeds. Unlike fiber strains that have been selected to grow well at extremely high densities, drug strains tend to be less persistent when grown in high concentration (de Meijer 1994). Drug strains can be very similar in appearance to fiber strains. However, a characteristic type of narcotic plant was selected in southern Asia, particularly in India and neighboring countries. This is dioecious, short (about a meter in height), highly branched, with large leaves (i.e. wide leaflets), and it is slow to mature. The appearance is rather like a short, conical Christmas tree.

Until recent times, the cultivation of hemp primarily as an oilseed was largely unknown, except in Russia. Today, it is difficult to reconstruct the type of plant that was grown there as an oilseed, because such cultivation has essentially been abandoned. Oilseed hemp cultivars in the modern sense were not available until very recently, but some land races certainly were grown specifically for seeds in Russia. Dewey (1914) gave the following information: “The short oil-seed hemp with slender stems, about 30 inches high, bearing compact clusters of seeds and maturing in 60 to 90 days, is of little value for fiber production, but the experimental plants, grown from seed imported from Russia, indicate that it may be valuable as an oil-seed crop to be harvested and threshed in the same manner as oil-seed flax.” Most hemp oilseed in Europe is currently obtained from so-called “dual usage” plants (employed for harvest of both stem fiber and seeds, from the same plants). Of the European dual-usage cultivars, ‘Uniko B’ and ‘Fasamo’ are particularly suited to being grown as oilseeds. Very recently, cultivars have been bred specifically for oilseed production. These include ‘Finola,’ formerly known as ‘Fin-314’ (Fig. 6) and ‘Anka’ (Fig. 7), which are relatively short, little-branched, mature early in north-temperate regions, and are ideal for high-density planting and harvest with conventional equipment. Dewey (1914) noted that a Turkish narcotic type of land race called “Smyrna” was commonly used in the early 20th century in the US to produce birdseed, because (like most narcotic types of Cannabis) it is densely branched, producing many flowers, hence seeds. While oilseed land races in northern Russia would have been short, early-maturing plants in view of the short growing season, in more southern areas oilseed landraces likely had moderate height, and were spaced more widely to allow abundant branching and seed production to develop. Until Canada replaced China in 1998 as a source of imported seeds for the US, most seeds used for various purposes in the US were sterilized and imported from China. Indeed, China remains the largest producer of hempseed. We have grown Chinese hemp land races, and these were short, branched, adapted to a very long growing season (i.e. they come into flower very slowly in response to photoperiodic induction of short days in the fall), and altogether they were rather reminiscent of Dewey’s description of Smyrna. Although similar in appearance to narcotic strains of C. sativa, the Chinese land races we grew were in fact low in intoxicating constituents, and it may well be that what Dewey thought was a narcotic strain was not. Although some forms of C. sativa have quite large seeds, until recently oilseed forms appear to have been mainly selected for a heavy yield of seeds, usually recognizable by abundant branching. Such forms are typically grown at lower densities than hemp grown only for fiber, as this promotes branching, although it should be understood that the genetic propensity for branching has been selected. Percentage or quality of oil in the seeds does not appear to have been important in the past, although selection for these traits is now being conducted. Most significantly, modern selection is occurring with regard to mechanized harvesting, particularly the ability to grow in high density as single-headed stalks with very short branches bearing considerable seed.



....................................................................................................................

United States National Institute of Health, University of Mississippi marijuana plantation site, showing variation in plant size. A tall fiber-type of hemp plant is shown at left, and a short narcotic variety (identified as “Panama Gold”) at right.

 

[indifferent]

I found a nice pic that illustrates my point about the introduction of Indian genes along with the Indian labour in South Africa.

These are two Xhosa warriors, the one on the left is snorting snuff out of a buffalo horn, the other one is smoking wild dagga (cannabis) from a long thin pipe. That's Maize in the background BTW, which as i said before, is from Mexico. The snuff was made from cannabis, other herbs and some mushrooms, the warriors snorted it before going into battle. You can see a bunch of wild dagga tops wrapped in mealie leaves (Maize) in front of the pipe smoking guy.

Second pic is two Xhosa women making snuff.

When the Brits imported Indians around the turn of the 19th/20th centuries to work in the gold and diamond fields, they soon discovered they were trading with the locals for their wild dagga. The Brits planted fields of cannabis and even partly paid the Indians in cannabis. The Indians lived in compounds and the cannabis was grown inside these compounds, cultivated by the Indians themselves, the genes, like the workers, were imported from British India, after all, if you wanted a supply of high quality, already selected and worked cannabis genes, the place to find them was India, not South Africa where the cannabis was all wild at the time. Kerala was probably the major source of these Indian genes, and Kerala is home to sativas, not indicas, but I expect they also imported genes from North India (they would have wanted a variety of types to see which flourished best in a new environment) and that would have been the major introduction of the broad-leaved genes that still crop up in the South African genepool. Of course, so many ships went round the Horn of Africa for 5 centuries or more that there would have been other introductions, but the main one was unquestionably when the British imported Indian labour.

 

[englishrick]

in Clarkes "Hashish",,,,i remember seeing something about trade routes...im sure he details Kush plants and explains the wideleaf is localized,,,,i cant remember exactly what Clarke says but he gows on to talk about how all drug cannabis is sativa and there is only 2 types,,,wideleafsativa and thinleafsativa,,,

can anyone correct me?,,,im not 100%

 

[bombadil.360]

Why on earth would a plant need broad, fat leaves in The Congo where the sun is so intense? Why would a plant need the thick, waxy, dark leaves of an Afghan (adaptation to cold climate) in The Congo?

It doesn't make sense, and no, it's not natural variation, natural variation would not stretch so far as to produce an indica profile, it would be variation on a much smaller scale, as is seen in many landraces, yes they are varied, but unless genes from elsewhere have been introduced, they don't vary so much as to produce an 'Afghan' type plant!

it may not make sense to you, but the fact is that in Congo, there are land-race sativas that are short and finish pretty fast. I never said they looked like afghans, neither said the same about the Lesothos I talked about...

pink pistils and red stems btw, are common to find in african as well as colombian plants.

plus, in afghanistan is pretty hot, it has a more tropical latitude than lesotho for example, so how come they have such fat leaves?

too much wild speculation going on here...

later.

 

[indifferent]

Afghanistan is hot in the daytime and very cold at nighttime, you can't say that about Lesotho, also Afghanistan has harsh winters, again, can't say that about Lesotho. How much snow falls in Lesotho? What about windchill factor at altitude? What about the arid conditions? It's daft to just say 'Afghanistan is hot' have you considered the fact that Afghanistan contains a lot of different climatic zones dependent on altitude?

I have relatives in Afghanistan at the moment, it gets really friggin cold, I sent em some cold weather gear such as balaclavas and mittens, I live right near the Kangol and Lakeland Outdoor factories so I get that stuff at cost. Ever seen anyone wearing a balaclava and mittens in The Congo? Wise up!

You got any pics of these short, fast Congo plants?

No shit you can find pink pistils and red stems in Africa, no-one said you couldn't!

Come on bombadil, instead of just telling us we are wrong, why not do what we are doing and try to build your argument with evidence? Your negativity is getting tiresome now, so time to put up or shut up!

 

[bombadil.360]

Afghanistan is hot in the daytime and very cold at nighttime, you can't say that about Lesotho, also Afghanistan has harsh winters, again, can't say that about Lesotho. How much snow falls in Lesotho? What about windchill factor at altitude? What about the arid conditions? It's daft to just say 'Afghanistan is hot' have you considered the fact that Afghanistan contains a lot of different climatic zones dependent on altitude?

I have relatives in Afghanistan at the moment, it gets really friggin cold, I sent em some cold weather gear such as balaclavas and mittens, I live right near the Kangol and Lakeland Outdoor factories so I get that stuff at cost. Ever seen anyone wearing a balaclava and mittens in The Congo? Wise up!

You got any pics of these short, fast Congo plants?

No shit you can find pink pistils and red stems in Africa, no-one said you couldn't!

Come on bombadil, instead of just telling us we are wrong, why not do what we are doing and try to build your argument with evidence? Your negativity is getting tiresome now, so time to put up or shut up!

cold and hot do not have anything to do with how thin or broad a leaf is.

this we can easily see in highland Colombians, gets pretty cold, at altitude you even get hail, not only in the night but also in the day, and the leaves are thin... same with highland nepalese sativas, many thin leaf phenos... etc...

here is a picture of a short fast flowering pure purple pheno congo (banghi) from la mano negra

http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/6048banmorada.jpg

and about the negativity, it was not I who started the negative thing, it was you, when you declared that "if it looks like a hybrid, it is a hybrid". if you don't want to believe that in Lesotho there are landrace sativas that in fact look like a hybrid but which are not, that is your bias, not mine; no need to get so defensive about it and start with wild speculations to try to make everyone conform to your view of what a landrace should look like.

Im out.

 

[indifferent]

I didn't start negativity, you sensed something that wasn't there and did nothing to support your standpoint so I'm pleased you're out, try not to let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!

Wild speculations? Where? Come on, support your points or fuck off!

 

[rainha Ginga]

Congolese

Red Angola
http://www.icmag.com/gallery/data/500/6048angole_a-roja1.jpg

 

[bombadil.360]

sister Ginga, I doubt any amount of pictures will help indifferent consider things that are beyond his narrow understanding of what landraces should look like...

un abrazo,

gracias

Jo Ta Ke!

 

[englishrick]

hay guys

i can see where indi is comming from and i can see what your sayin over there bro....,,,

this is the way is see it,,,,,

as hemp seed was sold on the silk road coming from china, all different reigions started growing hemp!!,,,,,,,when people grew-out the hemp seed they found populations for fiber plants, oilseed plants , and narcotic plants!!!!!!!!,,,,the narcotic hemp plants are squat in comparison to all the other hemp!!!!!!!

i dont think it was the envitoment that created all the novel traits in our beloved global cannabis line,,,i think the genes for the expreshion of the traits like broad leafs were allready there to begin with in the hemp populations/seeds sold on the silk road,,,

imho,,,,i think selection gave chance for rapid sucsession of novel and supirior genotypes sutch as the broadleaf,,,

ALLTHO STILL still the broadleaf expreshion seems to be at a high frequency in 1 localized area,,,,China ,Afghan, Kush, Paki ,,,kashmire,,,,carachi etc,,,the mountain region

if i remember corectly,,,,the oldest Afgahn landrace cannabis is not fatleaf atall!!,,,,,

 

[indifferent]

Thankyou Rainha Ginga for the pictures, I am a little familiar with the Angola x Banghi from La mano Negra.

sister Ginga, I doubt any amount of pictures will help indifferent consider things that are beyond his narrow understanding of what landraces should look like...

un abrazo,

gracias

Jo Ta Ke!

Consider what? All you have done in this thread is insult me and not presented ANY information besides ONE picture to support your argument.

Narrow understanding? I spend most days studying cannabis literature and have a massive library of research material, forgive me if I can't be bothered digging out various books just to reference every statement I make. I have an old book that details the Indian ganja being imported and grown in South Africa, but it's a huge book, a hard-bound volume from 1913, so there is no speculation involved in my writings about that, but you call it speculation because I don't have time to wade through piles of books to find the reference!

Bombadil, you just come across like a smart-ass who criticises others and likes to poke fun at people, yet you say absolutely nothing at all of any value, where are your facts and information? Probably your arrogance and ego makes you think you don't need to support your arguments!

 

[Thule]

Guys, guys, peace!

Different standpoints can create fruitful converstations.

It seems to me that by the time "Arab merchants" started trading with Africa and brought cannabis with them, the chinese wide leafs had already made it to Central Asia.

By looking at African plants it's obvious at times. Angola, purple pistils just like many Pakistanis and Afghanis. South Africa, wide leafs, squat phenotypes. Malawi, Congo, medium width DARK leaves arranged in a circular array of leaves typical of Yunnan, Deep Chunk, Himalayans.. Infact most African strains have rather big seeds which I link to China. South Indians and wild Central Asians (which I believe are related) tend to have teeny weeny seeds and the seed size starts getting bigger the closer to China you get. I imagine it's connected with the habit of eating them and therefore most of the imported seeds were big and it is also this type that made it to Africa. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[indifferent]

Guys, guys, peace!

Different standpoints can create fruitful converstations.

It seems to me that by the time "Arab merchants" started trading with Africa and brought cannabis with them, the chinese wide leafs had already made it to Central Asia.

By looking at African plants it's obvious at times. Angola, purple pistils just like many Pakistanis and Afghanis. South Africa, wide leafs, squat phenotypes. Malawi, Congo, medium width DARK leaves arranged in a circular array of leaves typical of Yunnan, Deep Chunk, Himalayans.. Infact most African strains have rather big seeds which I link to China. South Indians and wild Central Asians (which I believe are related) tend to have teeny weeny seeds and the seed size starts getting bigger the closer to China you get. I imagine it's connected with the habit of eating them and therefore most of the imported seeds were big and it is also this type that made it to Africa. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm sure you are right, the Chinese traded by sea as far as the east coast of Africa and the Arabs carried on a lot of maritime trade along the east coast.

Unlike bombadil, I will provide supporting information, here we go, here is some info on the modern 'dagga' trade in South Africa:

DISTRIBUTION OF DAGGA

Areas marked in red indicate dagga growing areas

The South African climate is very favourable for the growth of Dagga. The plants are found in Dagga plantations and can grow up to 3m high and 15cm in diameter. The Dagga plant is then chopped off and dried in the sun. .

The total eradication of Dagga is hampered because of the fact that Dagga is planted in areas that are inaccessible, such as cliffs and high mountains. In Swaziland it is only possible to get to these plantations by means of the use of helicopters. This Dagga that is harvested, is physically carried out by the smugglers to assembly points from where it is then taken across the border by other means.

In Lesotho however, the Dagga plantations can be reached by 4 x 4 vehicles and motorbikes. Still, 99% of these Dagga gets transported out of the area by means of pack animals such as donkeys.

In Malawi Dagga is planted kilometres from the roadside in the middle of mealie fields, sugar plantations and densely bushed areas, which makes the monitoring and destroying thereof very difficult. There it is found that the Dagga is physically carried by the smugglers to the assembly points.

In the Eastern Cape (former Transkei and Ciskei) and Kwazulu Natal it is a traditional source of income to farm Dagga. The Eastern Cape is one of the largest Dagga producing areas in South Africa. This can be verified by the total number of confiscations done by the South African Police Service.

Shots are regularly fired at policemen during Dagga destroying operations, because Dagga is known as "Green Gold" and is the main source of income for thousands of people in these areas.

The first phase of organized Dagga smuggling takes place by means of the big scale transport of bags of Dagga or compressed Dagga blocks. These bags of Dagga are transported by trucks to the various distribution points in the country. Various cases were found where these bags were covered with human faeces to disguise the strong smell thereof during transport.

This known method of smuggling is run by organized drug syndicates and corrupt customs officers and police officers are used to promote the process.
PRICE : R800 - R1 600 - depending on the availability and the quality
WEIGHT : ±8 - 14kg

Dagga is taken from the bags and repackaged in what is known as an "Arm". The name "Arm" is derived from the packaging method. Dagga is rolled up in newspaper and brown paper in the length and thickness of a man's forearm. It has been found that the length and thickness of an "Arm" vary in certain smuggle areas.
PRICE : ±R60 - R90 - depending on the weight and the quality
WEIGHT : 650g - 1kg

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Dagga is not originally derived from Africa. Cannabis Sativa, the gene name for Dagga, originated in the Far East, from countries such as China and Thailand. In the Indian subcontinent legends and traditions have it that Dagga was used as a method to enhance meditation and concentration. In certain parts of India Dagga, where it is known as "Bhang", is prepared in the form of a syrup that is used during spiritual occasions and is prescribed by certain religions as compulsory.

Ganja is also seen in India as a form of prestige and was prominent during certain Indian parties. In South India it was a habit to distribute Ganja amongst guests at weddings to show the host's respect toward his guests.

Certain African tribes have over the years made excessive use of Cannabis. In Tanzania this drug found its way into a diet in the southern highlands where Cannabis seeds and leafs were used as a spice during the preparation of certain vegetable dishes. Traditional doctors in Tanzania made extracts of the Cannabis plant that was then used to cure earache. Cannabis entered South Africa via Mozambique. For years Dagga was supplied to black mine workers to enhance their work performance. It was also known that there were certain secret movements where people used Dagga in vast quantities.

South Africa is traditionally one of the largest Dagga producing countries in the world. Dagga is primarily cultivated in Kwazulu Natal, the Eastern Cape (especially the former Transkei), Swaziland and Lesotho. This Dagga has for years been exported to America and Europe and is then exchanged for more serious drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy. In 1928 the cultivating and use of Dagga was prohibited (banned) in South Africa.

 

[indifferent]

Here is a great article by Zamalito about the introduction of cannabis to Africa:

The Arrival Of Indian Cannabis Culture To Africa And The Zambezi River

By Zamalito of Breeders Choice Organisation.

When we left part 1 we had travelled across the Red Sea with Menelik I, Ethiopian son of king Solomon in bringing the Ark Of The Covenant into the African continent implying that cannabis first came to Africa across the Red Sea from the Mideast.

The acceptance of Kaneh Bosem as being cannabis by the Ethiopian orthodox church is of a significance we must keep in mind while reading the second part. According to the old testament Kaneh Bosm incense must be burned while approaching the Ark of The Covenant or God would vaporize you. If the Ethiopian Orthodoxy Church still possesses the Ark of The Covenant than surely their interpretation of the work Kaneh Bosm must be correct.


After all, it is a life or death situation that this incense be correct. In continuance of the previous part and of importance to this part, we must establish that cannabis was an important staple source of incense at this time. Incense was one of the most highly valued and traded commodities of the time and by proving cannabis was one of the staple sources of also a unique form of this product we can thereby imply its demand and significance in trade around these regions. The Hebrew word for hashish has also been cited as the word for incense. There are also references to the assyrians using cannabis as an incense between 600 and 800 BC under the name Qunubu similar to the Iranian Kunubu.

The incense trade started with the domestication of the camel and over time took advantage of maritime advancements in order to bypass taxation and laws requiring the incense to travel trhough certain kingdoms giving kings and royalty access to rare goods, protect secret sources, as well as avoid thieves and other hazards and during the peak incense traders moved over 3,000 tons of incense every year. The arrival of the domesticated camel to Arabia, I believe, was the primary catalyst for intercontinental trade which set off a spark, still visible in Mid-eastern and some Asian cultures to this day. In hopes that this does not sound offensive, anyone even vaguely familiar with Arab culture has probably noticed how ingrained certain trade skills and customs have become. In most of the world, Arab owned markets possess unique goods both domestic and foreign which has facilitated an ability to find a means of support for their families in almost any region of the world.

The Bedouin myth regarding the origin of the camel is that they went into the mountains to raid a jewish settlement and ended up getting lost and eating their horses. They eventually wandered into the Jewish camp and the jews fled leaving a couple camels behind but the bedouins killed all of them. The Bedouin then tracked down the Jews and killed them and rode their Camels down out of the mountains. From that day on the Jews never rode camels again and the Bedouin did. Most evidence seems to point to the Jews as the ones who originally obtained the Camels from Africa where they were first domesticated and according to some phrases in the bible, it may very well have been Abraham who was among the first to have a domesticated Camel outside of the African continent.

We now take a look at how trade was established between Africa India China, Viet Nam and Egypt and for the first part of this section we will be looking at a vague and misunderstood maritime history. For the purpose of this discussion we have three cultures trading in the Indian ocean, the Chinese, Indians, and a vague nonspecific group historians simply refer to as "Arab Traders". The reason historians feel quite safe in assuming it was Arab traders who brought cannabis to southern Africa have to do with the Arabs had really mastered the transfer of goods from east asia which remained from the times of the Roman empire to long after the discovery of the new world, and actually thrived on the gold and silver the Portuguese and Spanish had brought back. The oldest cannabis using cultures of southern and central Africa appear to be along the Zambezi river. Also there were several very old Arabic trade colonies still in existence when the first Europeans explored the river in the 19th century. Most historians attribute the introduction of cannabis into southern Africa during the 13th and 14th centuries but they fail to explain why these cultures seem to have been created well before the introduction of Islam.

We now go back to the Red Sea, at the death of Alexander The Great in 323 BC 3 years after his invasion of north India. Now One could go on for years about the effects that Alexander alone had on the dispersal of cannabis but three primary results came from the last 3 years of Alexander's life and his subsequent death. Alexander's assault on and the resulting weakening of the tribes of northwest India reinforced trade links between, Northwest India, Afghanistan, Persia and the Mediteranean. Alexander was well known for encouraging his soldiers to marry outside of their own culture in an attempt to link the east and the west. After his death, many of his soldiers, originally from Macedonia, moved to Punjab, a region historically well known for cannabis production, where they lived with their wives for the rest of their days. I feel there is no question this had an effect on the trade of cannabis products, but the extent of which is hard to quantify. The third result the death of Alexander had on the spread of Cannabis products is that the Greek empire was divided among his generals. The middle east was divided between the Ptolomies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria.

The Seleucids had one serious advantage over the Ptolomies, they had an overland route that gave them access to Indian war elephants amd ivory. The ptolomies in order to obtain these valuable war comodities employed the help of a group much more knowledgeable in maritime trade in the indian ocean, possibly a group called the Nabataeans. Instead of solely obtaining their elephants from India which were those more traditionally used in war. The Zambezi river an immense resource in the collection of African elephants, one variety of which provided very large tusks on both males and females and was a great source of ivory and war elephants. Africa is the home of the largest species of Elephant alive today. The other species of African elephant is a smaller faster species which is capable of swimming underwater also would appear to be useful in battle and its distinct form has interestingly found its way into Nabataean art.

From the Sinai, the Nabataeans were possibly the first to take advantage of the seasonal monsoon winds facilitating trade from the east coast of Africa to Kerala, Sri Lanka and The Bay Of Bengal. Simulataneously, either because of coincidence or shared technology the Nabataeans od the Sinai, the Indians, Sri Lankans and the Chinese all had an explosion of technology facilitating oceanic travel. The development of a triangular sail when combined with a long centerboard/keel for the first time, allowed sailors to harvest the power of vectors and sail virtually upwind by tacking and the timing of how this technology was spread along with their possession of artwork from all over South and East Asia as well as Africa implies that they were possibly the ones to spread this technology around the indian ocean. One of these early hull types for the early triangular sailed dhows, still in use today is referred to as a "Ganja". Although atm for me to provide any sort of guess as to how this type of hull received this name other than pointing out that the hulls were most likely built in India would be pure speculation but it is an interesting link worthy of more investigation.

The size of the gene pool and variability in phenotypes of landrace plants in Yunnan (southeastern china) or India, individually is absolutely immense but together, have the ability to produce potent cannabis capable of growing almost anywhere on the planet with even the most modest agricultural potential, whether due to a short growing season, arid conditions, or just an inhospitable climate.

B. Introduction To Southern Africa (Finally, lol)

I feel we can confidently say Cannabis goes back quite far in eastern, southern and central Africa. Community based rituals along the Zambezi valley such as those that employ piles of cannabis leaves being thrown upon a fire and are inhaled by the community as a whole as a means to create a communal bond, typically dont develop extremely rapidly, especially with unfamiliar materials. Also, the introduction of cannabis to the region by Arab traders appears to be quite separate from the introduction of Islam to the region. Several coins have turned up in Zimbabwe and the Zambezi valley originating from Persia and ranging in dates from the first to 4th century AD. As I said before, the Arab trade colonies along the Zambezi river were the first to introduce Cannabis to Africa outside of the Red Sea/Middle Eastern region. Linguistically there are three groups of terms for Cannabis in this region. There are words based on the Indian term Bhang such as Bhangi, Mbanghi, Mbanzhi, etc. Then theres the hottentot Dagga based words, and then you have the Riamba, Liambe, Liamba, Diamba family of words. The latter family of terms spreads from the headwaters of the Zambezi river and a little but north and east but mostly north and west all the way to Nigeria and is also used in some modern context in the Ivory Coast. Many botanists insist that cannabis was not introduced into Nigeria until after World War II but Sir Richard Burton mentioned it growing wild in Lagos, Nigeria in one of his journals. I cannot profess to claim the origins of the Riamba based words but interestingly a search of towns, hills, mountains, cities etc of places in the world whose names contain these words solely brings up places in this region of Zambia, Angola, Cameroon, Ivory Coast etc, all places which use this as the traditional term for cannabis. It seems likely that this liguistic group illustrates the route of introduction into central Africa also. I tend to feel that these terms are remnants of the first Arab Ivory traders who came up the Zambezi river from before Arabs adopted the term Bhang from India.

Sandwiching the Riamba language group we have the Bhang based terms occur to the East, and South. These terms represent the groups which adopted the term from traders who brought the word from India and seem to hint at Indian ancestry to the cannabis itself. Indian phenotypes appear to be common in southern Africa. Traits such as monophyllus leaves, heavy tertiary and quaternary branching, and the terpenotypes appear to connect many of the southern african landraces to southern India. Thise term very possibly arrived with later traders before the 11th century AD during the mining of gold fields in East Africa.

The term Dagga seems to have been originally a hottentot term, as a reference to the shared properties of ingestion by smoking with tobacco referring to it as green tobacco (daXab) from the original term for tobacco duXan. This is most likely used by the hottentots because they were introduced tobacco from the Portuguese most likely at a time similar to that of cannabis. The portuguese were known to have taken advantage of the southernmost tip of Africa as a trade route around the continent. The word dagga also appears on the southernmost portion of the continent.

 

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And here is some solid gold info on this subject, come on bombadil, disagree with this level of research if you dare!

 

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And here is the piece de la resistance, this should end all notions bombadl has that I am uninformed on this subject, I suggest everyone read this entire essay before offering further comment on this subject!

 

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remainder of the essay: