The Sativa Plant: Cannabis Sativa Explained

Sativa is Latin for "cultivated" or "sown". It is not unique to cannabis: rice is Oryza sativa, lucerne is Medicago sativa, oats are Avena sativa and lettuce is Lactuca sativa. Each is simply the cultivated one of its kind.

In cannabis the word does two jobs. Cannabis sativa is the scientific name of the plant, so botanically every cannabis plant is a sativa plant. "Sativa" is also a label on products, sold as the uplifting, daytime counterpart to indica. This guide is mostly about the first: the plant itself, what it looks like, how it grows and how the hemp in a rope and the flower in a prescription come from the same species. It is general information, not individual medical advice.

Key takeaways

• Cannabis sativa is an annual flowering plant, named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. "Sativa" means cultivated.
• It was first domesticated in East Asia in the early Neolithic period, and has been grown for fibre, seed, oil and medicine ever since.
• Most cannabis plants are either male or female. Medicinal flower is the dried female flower, where the resin glands that make cannabinoids and terpenes are concentrated.
• Hemp and medicinal cannabis are the same species. The difference is how much THC a plant produces, and hemp is bred to make very little.
• As a product label, "sativa" usually means a tall, narrow-leaved plant type. Research has found the label does not reliably predict how a product will feel.
• Growing cannabis in Australia is illegal without a licence, apart from limited personal growing by adults in the ACT.

What is a sativa plant?

Cannabis sativa is an annual herb, meaning it grows from seed, flowers and dies within a single season. It belongs to the family Cannabaceae, which it shares with hops. Linnaeus gave it its name in 1753, working from the hemp grown across Europe for fibre and seed.

The plant is far older than its name. A 2021 study that sequenced the genomes of 110 cannabis plants from around the world concluded that it was first domesticated in East Asia in the early Neolithic, and that today's hemp and drug cultivars all descend from an ancestral gene pool still found in wild and traditional plants in China [1]. Over thousands of years it has been grown for rope, cloth, paper, seed, oil and medicine, and its chemistry is remarkably rich: researchers have identified hundreds of compounds in it [2].

What the sativa plant looks like

The cannabis leaf is one of the most recognisable in the world. It is palmate, like an open hand, with several long, saw-edged leaflets spreading from one point. Most leaves have between five and nine leaflets, with fewer near the top of the plant.

In everyday use, a "sativa" plant means a particular type:

• Tall, able to grow well over two metres outdoors, with long gaps between branches
• Long, narrow, light-green leaflets
• Airy, elongated flowers rather than dense ones
• A long flowering period, often several weeks longer than broad-leaved types

These narrow-leaved plants are associated with warm, low-latitude regions such as South and South-East Asia, Africa and the Americas, where long growing seasons let a slow-flowering plant finish. The broad-leaved, bushy type is what gets called "indica". Our guide to what indica means covers how those two names came about, and why botanists now argue that the popular labels have drifted from their original meaning.

Male and female plants, and where the medicine is

Most cannabis plants are either male or female. Male plants produce pollen. Female plants produce the flowers that are harvested as medicine. They are kept away from pollen, because a pollinated flower goes on to set seed.

That resin is made in trichomes, tiny glands that cover the female flowers and the small leaves around them and give good flower its frosted look. The trichomes are where the plant makes its cannabinoids, such as THC and CBD, and its terpenes, the aromatic compounds behind each cultivar's smell.

In the plant, the cannabinoids are mostly in an acid form, THCA and CBDA, which is not intoxicating. Heat converts them to THC and CBD, and that is part of what a vaporiser does. Our guides to cannabinoids and terpenes and vaporiser temperature go further.

How it grows

Cannabis is a light-sensitive plant. It grows leaves and stems while the days are long and starts to flower as they shorten, which is why outdoor crops flower in autumn. The slow-flowering narrow-leaved types can take several weeks longer to finish than broad-leaved ones.

Medicinal cannabis is usually grown indoors or in glasshouses, where light, temperature and humidity can be controlled so that each batch comes out consistent. Medicinal flower is dried and cured after harvest, and our guide to checking flower quality covers what that should look like when it reaches you.

Hemp and medicinal cannabis are the same species

Hemp is Cannabis sativa bred to produce very little THC. It is grown for fibre, seed and oil, and in Australia it is licensed by the states. Food made from low-THC hemp seed has been legal to sell in Australia since November 2017 [7].

Drug-type cannabis, including medicinal cannabis, is Cannabis sativa bred for high cannabinoid content. The two are the same species but have been bred apart for so long that they are genetically distinct. One study found that hemp is actually closer genetically to the broad-leaved "indica" type than to the plants sold as sativa [3].

What sativa means on a product

On a product, "sativa" is shorthand for an expected effect: uplifting, energising, clear-headed, better during the day. Indica is sold as the opposite, and hybrids as something in between.

Research has not been kind to these labels. Genetic studies have found that plants sold as sativa and indica are not reliably different across the genome [4], and a large analysis of commercial cannabis found that the labels do not consistently match the chemistry of what is in the jar [5]. How a product feels depends mainly on its THC and CBD content, the dose, how you take it and your own response. Our indica guide sets out that evidence in full.

In Australia, medicinal cannabis is prescribed as a specific product with its THC and CBD content stated. If a product labelled sativa feels too stimulating, or not stimulating enough, tell your doctor what happened rather than asking for a different label.

Is the sativa plant legal in Australia?

Under the national Poisons Standard, cannabis is a prohibited substance, with exceptions for prescribed medicinal cannabis and for licensed low-THC hemp [8]. Medicinal cannabis is grown under a licence from the Office of Drug Control, or imported, and is only available on prescription through a pharmacy.

Growing cannabis without a licence is illegal everywhere in Australia except in the ACT, where adults may grow up to two plants each, and no more than four per household [6]. Our guide to cannabis laws in the ACT covers the limits and what remains illegal there.

Frequently asked questions

What is a sativa plant?

It is Cannabis sativa, the cannabis plant: an annual flowering herb first named by Linnaeus in 1753. In everyday use, "a sativa" also means a tall, narrow-leaved type of cannabis plant, as opposed to the short, broad-leaved type called indica.

What does sativa mean?

Sativa is Latin for "cultivated" or "sown". It appears in the scientific names of many crops, including rice, lucerne, oats and lettuce.

Is it hard to grow sativa?

Narrow-leaved sativa types grow tall and flower slowly, so they need more space and a longer season than broad-leaved types. In Australia, though, growing any cannabis without a licence is illegal outside the ACT's personal limits.

What is sativa called in India?

In India, cannabis is best known by the names of what is made from it: bhang, a preparation of the leaves, ganja, the flowering tops, and charas, the resin.

Is sativa considered a drug?

Cannabis sativa includes both hemp, which contains very little THC, and drug-type cannabis. In Australia cannabis is a prohibited drug unless it is licensed low-THC hemp or medicinal cannabis prescribed by a doctor, apart from the ACT's limits on personal possession and growing.

Does sativa give you energy?

That is the reputation, but the label is not a reliable guide. Whether a product feels stimulating or sedating depends mainly on its THC and CBD content and the dose, not on whether it is called sativa or indica.

References

1. Ren G, Zhang X, Li Y, et al. Large-scale whole-genome resequencing unravels the domestication history of Cannabis sativa. Sci Adv. 2021;7(29):eabg2286.
2. Andre CM, Hausman JF, Guerriero G. Cannabis sativa: the plant of the thousand and one molecules. Front Plant Sci. 2016;7:19.
3. Sawler J, Stout JM, Gardner KM, et al. The genetic structure of marijuana and hemp. PLoS One. 2015;10(8):e0133292.
4. Watts S, McElroy M, Migicovsky Z, et al. Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes. Nat Plants. 2021;7(10):1330-1334.
5. Smith CJ, Vergara D, Keegan B, Jikomes N. The phytochemical diversity of commercial Cannabis in the United States. PLoS One. 2022;17(5):e0267498.
6. Drugs of Dependence (Personal Cannabis Use) Amendment Act 2019 (ACT).
7. Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Hemp seeds as food. FSANZ.
8. Therapeutic Goods Administration. Poisons Standard (Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons). Australian Government.