Cannabis Ruderalis

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Cannabis ruderalis (= C. sativa var. spondanea) was first brought to Amsterdam from Central Europe in the early 1980s by the Seed Bank to enhance their breeding program. Very similar, if not the same “ruderalis” plants grow from Minnesota north through Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada.

Cannabis ruderalis is a short, weedy, scrubby plant containing very, very little THC, but it starts the flowering cycle after a few weeks of growth. Photoperiod does not include flowering in C. ruderalis. Sometimes confused with more potent indicas, pure C. ruderalis is true ditch weed. It yields a headache rather than a high. Today a few breeders have incorporated the early flowering C. ruderalis genes with other early blooming C. sativa, C. indica, and C. afghanica.