Cultivar
A named plant variety, botanically defined but unreliable in cannabis markets.
Cultivar is the correct botanical term, but in cannabis it's often meaningless: the same name can mask wildly different genetics, and different names sometimes hide identical plants. The cannabis industry uses 'strain' as a catchall, which bothers botanists but at least signals marketing reality. Chemistry (chemovar) often matters more than lineage for predicting effects.
Definition
A cultivar is a plant variety that has been selected and maintained through cultivation, distinguished from other varieties by stable traits when propagated. The term is a portmanteau of 'cultivated' and 'variety,' introduced by Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1923 [1]. Cultivars are formally registered under the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) [2].
In cannabis, a cultivar is a named lineage — Blue Dream, Chemdog, Northern Lights — that growers or breeders claim to maintain. In casual industry usage, the same concept is called a 'strain,' though that term carries no botanical precision.
Cultivar vs. strain vs. chemovar
Strain is the dispensary counter word. It is borrowed from microbiology (where it refers to a distinct genotype of a microorganism) and carries no formal botanical meaning in horticulture. Plant scientists distinguish cultivars from strains on this basis [3].
Cultivar is the correct horticultural term under the ICNCP. It assumes the variety is genetically stable and registered — assumptions often violated in cannabis, where most commercial 'cultivars' are seed-grown populations rather than uniform clones Strong evidence [4][5].
Chemovar (or chemotype) groups plants by chemical profile — THC-dominant, CBD-dominant, balanced terpene ratios — rather than by name or genetic lineage. This classification sidesteps the unreliability of cultivar names by focusing on the compounds that actually matter to users and clinicians. Some researchers have argued that chemovar is more useful than cultivar name for understanding effects in cannabis Weak / limited [6], though this remains an area of active debate rather than settled consensus.
Why cultivar names are unreliable in cannabis
Genetic studies have repeatedly shown that cannabis samples sold under the same cultivar name often differ substantially in DNA sequence, and samples with different names are sometimes nearly identical Strong evidence [4][5]. Several factors explain this:
- Most commercial 'cultivars' are propagated from seed, not cloned. Seed-grown populations naturally segregate and diverge with each generation.
- Cannabis has no central registry or governing body to enforce or validate cultivar names.
- Growers and breeders frequently rename plants for marketing or regional preference.
- Prohibition historically prevented formal cultivar registration and breeding records in most jurisdictions.
- Horizontal gene transfer and cross-pollination in illicit and early legal grows created lineage confusion.
In practice, a 'Blue Dream' from one dispensary can test and smell substantially different from a 'Blue Dream' from another, both legally and chemically valid but genetically distinct. This is why chemovars or Certificate of Analysis (COA) results matter more than cultivar names alone.
How Weedpedia uses the term
On Weedpedia, we use cultivar when discussing named varieties in a botanical or breeding context — for example, 'the Haze cultivar group' or comparing registered varieties across jurisdictions. We use strain when reflecting common industry and consumer language, particularly in dispensary settings. When chemistry is the primary focus — for example, discussing effects, medical use, or cannabinoid ratios — we prefer chemovar to avoid implying genetic stability that may not exist.
When reading cultivar names on a menu or label, checking the Certificate of Analysis (COA) for THC, CBD, and terpene content is more reliable than trusting the name alone.
Sources
- Book Spongberg, S.A. (1979). Notes on persons whose plant names appear in Hortus Third. Arnoldia, 39(3), 132–149.
- Book Brickell, C.D. et al. (eds.) (2016). International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), 9th edition. International Society for Horticultural Science.
- Peer-reviewed Small, E. (2015). Evolution and Classification of Cannabis sativa (Marijuana, Hemp) in Relation to Human Utilization. The Botanical Review, 81(3), 189–294.
- Peer-reviewed Sawler, J., Stout, J.M., Straete, K.M., et al. (2015). The Genetic Structure of Marijuana and Hemp. PLOS ONE, 10(8), e0133292.
- Peer-reviewed Schwabe, A.L. & McGlaughlin, M.E. (2019). Genetic tools weed out misconceptions of strain reliability in Cannabis sativa: implications for a budding industry. Journal of Cannabis Research, 1(3).
- Peer-reviewed Lewis, M.A., Russo, E.B., & Smith, K.M. (2018). Pharmacological Foundations of Cannabis Chemovars. Planta Medica, 84(4), 225–233.
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Related
- Certificate of Analysis (COA) — Lab-issued document reporting cannabinoid potency and contaminant screening for a specific...
- Clone — A rooted cutting that grows into a genetically identical plant.