Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Nature proves time and time again that everything in the natural world is connected by an elaborate web of life.
This complex network makes it difficult to classify the entire plant world into an organized system. Plant taxonomy has changed over time as DNA science has advanced and plants are understood in new ways.
Currently, we catalog plants under the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) which follows a Linnean classification system (pictured to the right). Focusing mostly on Northwest plant species, ITIS is a collaboration of U.S., Canadian, and Mexican agencies that form the backbone the Encyclopedia of Life is built on.
If we trace marijuana through this classification, this is what we find:
Species
Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, Cannabis ruderalis
In some cases, these are all viewed as simply “Cannabis sativa”
Genus
Family
Order
Class
Phylum
Kingdom
According to ITIS, cannabis is a member of the small Cannabaceae plant family which is a member of the rose order (Rosales). This means, if we expand cannabis’ relatives out one classification further to its Order, our…
