What is a landrace?

For me, landraces are the heart of cannabis history: plants that were grown and passed on for generations in one particular region – long before there were seed banks and crossing hypes. But what exactly is a landrace, and how can you tell a genuine one?

The definition

“Landrace” is not a cannabis term; it comes from plant breeding in general – there are landraces of wheat, maize and tomatoes too. A widely cited working definition reads, in essence:

A landrace is a dynamic population of a cultivated plant with a historical origin and a distinct identity that has not undergone formal breeding – and that is often genetically diverse, locally adapted and associated with traditional farming systems.^[1]

The word “often” is important: the authors stress that not every landrace has to meet all the criteria at once.^[1] The term has long been defined in different ways.^[5] well established

How landraces came about

A large genome study with 110 samples from around the world concluded that cannabis was first domesticated in the early Neolithic in East Asia. According to the study, all of today’s hemp and drug-type varieties derive from a common ancestral gene pool that is still represented today by feral plants and landraces in China.^[2] research in flux

From there, people spread the plant over thousands of years. In each region, farmers selected over generations the plants that best suited their purposes and climate. How strongly geography, climate and traditional practice shape a landrace is shown by a study of 145 Iranian landrace accessions: the researchers found three genetically distinct groups shaped by precisely these factors.^[6]

Landrace vs. modern hybrids & polyhybrids

By the way, “polyhybrid” is not a scientific term but grower jargon for strains in which a great many lines have been crossed together. According to McPartland, crosses are now so ubiquitous that they have largely blurred the differences between the original populations.^[3] More on the terms in the article Sativa, indica & hybrids.

Why landraces matter for genetic diversity

The problem: is it really a landrace if the label says so?

According to McPartland, unmixed plants of Indian origin and Afghan landraces were already hard to come by more than 30 years ago.^[3] On top of that, a genetic study found that strain names often do not reflect a meaningful genetic identity.^[7] So a regional name on a seed pack is not yet proof of a genuine, unmixed landrace.

Hempey’s fact check

“Landrace” is not a protected term on seed packs. Without information on provenance – where, when and how it was collected, how it has been propagated since – authenticity cannot be judged. And even a genuine landrace changes when it is propagated for generations far from home or crosses with other plants. When propagated outside their region of origin (ex situ), the loss of native selection pressures (climate, altitude, soil, UV light) and small population sizes rapidly cause genetic drift and adaptation to the new environment within just a few generations (Camacho Villa et al. 2005; Clarke & Merlin 2013; Small 2015; Casañas et al. 2017).^[1][3][9]

My experience

Why Landraces Are the Heart of Cannabis Botany for Me

My motto has always been: “Understand nature, then copy nature” (Kapier die Natur, dann kopier die Natur). While modern commercial hybrids are bred for uniform indoor tents, traditional landraces showcase how nature shaped cannabis across millennia – from high-altitude Hindu Kush valleys to tropical Southeast Asia and Africa.

For me, the high is secondary; preserving this genetic heritage, its unique terpene profiles and its ethnobotanical history is what makes landraces so special.

Note: personal experiences are subjective and are not a recommendation.