Description

Genetics: Ruderal Kazakh Cannabis
Sourcing: Russian Landrace Bureau in Jambyl, Kazakhstan (2019)
Purpose: n/a
Latitude: 44° N
Harvest: Early to late August
Height: Variable
Aroma: Intensely pungent and sweet, fruit, melon
Characteristics: Very early maturing, day-neutral (‘autoflowering’)
Grow Type: Outdoors, greenhouse

These are seeds from a winter 2023 ex-situ maintenance grow. Please freeze seeds as cold as possible for several weeks before attempting germination.

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Seeds of a wild-growing Kazakh form of Cannabis collected in the desert–steppe on the fringes of the north-western Tien Shan range, specifically in the southern Qarataū, a name of Turkic origin meaning ‘Black Mountains’.

Originating on the frontiers between the Eurasian Steppe and eastern Central Asia, regions where there have been millennia of interaction between humans and Cannabis, this Kazakh variety is best conceptualized as feral or weedy rather than truly wild. Truly wild populations of Cannabis remain impossible to identify, as the Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov understood in the 1920s.

Nevertheless, as a Crop Wild Relative, this Kazakh variety and other wild-growing forms of Cannabis such as the Siberian Ruderalis are vitally important.

Plants are heavily branched and show some signs of domestication such as as large inflorescences that are denser than those typical of truly weedy ruderal Cannabis. Leaflets are predominantly narrow. Buds are intensely aromatic.

Cannabis is well-adapted to the desert–steppe of the Qarataū, with its meltwater-fed streams. This environment is similar to that of the likely centre of origin of the species, which is the Qinghai Plateau of eastern Tibet, where Cannabis probably diverged from its nearest relative, Humulus, some 30 million years ago.

With a very early finish, possible drug plant ancestry, and generations of adaptation to drought conditions, this variety has excellent potential for use in breeding projects. In addition, as wild-type Cannabis, its high genetic diversity makes it an invaluable reservoir of genetic diversity.

PLEASE NOTE: Seeds of feral and wild-type Cannabis exhibit slow and uneven germination. Freeze for several weeks for best results.