Cannabis Categories: Untangling Cultivars, Chemovars, Strains, & More

"I love your articles. Informative, rich, clean. Amazing work." — Miriam Sanger, cannabis journalist, Ra'ananna, Central, Israel, August 2020

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"Curt Robbins from California is an encyclopedia of cannabis knowledge." — Ian Jessop, Cannabis Health Radio, 2017

The rapidly emerging hemp and cannabis industries in North America have introduced tens of millions of consumers and entrepreneurs to the nuanced and sometimes fascinating biology of this complex herb. Cannabis has demonstrated medicinal efficacy for a large segment of the patient population for literally thousands of years.

The medicinal efficacy of the constituent terpenes and cannabinoids produced by hemp and cannabis is only part of the picture. The industrial applications of the stalk of hemp (arguably only half the plant) number in the thousands, from housing materials and fuel to food and clothing. This American company manufactures a hemp foundation material called “Hempcrete” (sometimes dubbed Hemplime because it employs lime as a binding agent) for building construction, a product that is superior to traditional concrete in many respects.    

Amid the “greenrush” of economic activity are major shifts in the cultural perception of this controversial herb. Much is being written as hundreds of thousands of employees join the fledgling industry and consumers attempt to understand the wellness efficacy of a plant that has been mired in heavy stigma and propaganda for more than a century. (The first anti-cannabis law in the United States occurred in El Paso, Texas, in 1914, 23 years prior to federal prohibition of cannabis in 1937.) 

What has resulted is a confused media and even more confused business owners and their potential customers. (I won’t use this space to discuss the marijuana vs. cannabis vs. weed vs. pot debate.)

Here’s the litmus test >>

Is a type of cannabis sold in a dispensary called Jack Herer or Durban Poison, for example, a strain, cultivar, phenotype, genotype, chemovar, chemotype, or variety? Jane! Stop this crazy thing!

Even seasoned writers and industry professionals commonly confuse these terms—and for good reason. This topic encroaches on the wheelhouse of botanists and geneticists with Ph.D. behind their names.

Fear not, intrepid readers. Below is some help to clarify this topic, including brief, easy-to-read definitions.   

Chemotype / Chemovar

Think of a chemotype (sometimes called a chemovar) as a “chemical phenotype” (see Phenotype below) of a particular cultivar (see Cultivar below) of hemp or cannabis. It is defined as a “chemically distinct entity” of a plant.

Different chemotypes/chemovars may feature very minor genetic variation, but significant chemical variation. In terms of hemp and cannabis, this means a different cannabinoid profile (the mix and ratio of the possible 113 cannabinoids) and terpene profile (the mix and ratio of the possible 200 terpenes). 

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