Table 5.

Floral Characteristics of Cannabis

In 95% of Angiosperms (flowering plants), the flower contains both male and female reproductive structures, but in the remaining 5%, flowers bear either male or female reproductive structures. If the same individual bears both male and female flowers the plant is called monoecious, and if male and female flowers are produced by different individuals the plant is called dioecious.

Cannabis is a genus characterized by dioecy, with male individuals showing short life cycle, and higher and slimmer shoots compared to female ones, but cultivars that produce also hermaphrodite or monoecious flowers (bearing separate male and female flowers on the same individual) are well known.35

Hybridization is the merging of differing gene pools to create offspring. Cannabis is wind pollinated; male plants produce vast amounts of pollen that can spread over large geographical areas, allowing the pollination of female flowers of plants growing very far from pollen-bearing flowers.

The extensive cultivation of Cannabis plants and the absence of barriers, which reduce or constrain interbreeding, lead to the production of numerous fertile hybrids that can maintain their characteristics over different generations.1,24