ABSTRACT
Cannabis sativa is generally dioecious, with the male and female flowers borne on separate individuals. Sexual intergrades also occur in which plants are either predominantly male or female but produce floral structures of the opposite sex. All parts of the plant emit a characteristic odor and are covered by viscid hairs. The plant is believed to be a native of western and central Asia. It is widely distributed in both temperate and tropical countries and is practically naturalized in the Sub-Himalayan tract. There are two views on the number of species within the genus Cannabis. The credit for showing a relationship between specific day length and flowering in Cannabis goes to Toumois, who demonstrated that under a 6-hr photoperiod the plants flowered, whereas under longer daylengths they remained vegetative. Although Cannabis sativa has been used as an experimental system for studying sex expression, there is surprisingly little critical information on its sexual mechanism.
