Ruderalis in Austria

[dada]

Hello everybody,

 

This my first post on this forum and hopefully not the last one.

I hope I am on the right forum, if not please move it to the right place.

 

I am going to talk about a cannabis population growing wild around fields in Austria that should be considered as Cannabis sativa ssp. ruderalis.

First my opinion on wild cannabis genetics worldwide: There is probably no (or very few) place on earth where there is cannabis populations that haven’t been influenced by human (by introducing foreign genetic pools in those populations). Cannabis original range in my opinion is central Asia and has very soon spread to almost the entire palearctic zone naturally and with the help of humans. One of the first people known to have spread the species on a very large area were the Scythians (or Scyths) and is interesting to see that the area they occupied corresponds roughly with the distribution of Cannabis sativa ssp. Ruderalis. Some Scythian groups were nomads and traders, and brought cannabis from Asia to the Mediterranean region from where it must have spread very fast over the west and south. Of course other cultures used Cannabis before but the Scythians were in my opinion one of the first to bring it out of Asia.

 

Now back to Cannabis sativa ssp. ruderalis. First it is nonsense to classify cannabis in three separate species (Cannabis ruderalis, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica) as there is no reproduction barer between them and they are way to related genetically and morphologically to be considered as species. Then in my opinion there is only two subspecies: Cannabis sativa ssp. ruderalis and Cannabis sativa ssp. sativa, “indica” being in my opinion only a phenotype that grows better in some places because of environmental factors. Also to mention that what we call “indica” and “sativa” phenotypes also occur in ruderalis populations. Of course taxonomy is a human science trying to use a single model for all living beings which is not always possible. It is probably not the right tool on a sub specific scale but It is the best we have if we don’t want want to use true genetics.

Austria (and western Europe) is at the edge of the ruderalis range and the plant has existed here for a very long time, the genpool has been growing since then because of hemp cultivation (just to mention that low THC Hemp is a very recent invention and fiber Hemp and narcotic Hemp 200 years ago was probably the same plant: so not low potency). The ruderalis populations in western Europe have an incredible genetic diversity :there is over 3m high bushes as well as 15cm plants, all sizes and shapes of leafs, also some tending to a purple color and others very light green, some start flowering in may others in september etc., some plants have almost no trichomes other ones are extremely resinous (most people believe ruderalis is a very low potency plant but this so wrong, the only reason it is considered as shit weed is that in the wild they are full of seeds making it very unpleasant to smoke) yet in Hungary for example there has been a lot of low THC fiber hemp cultures, that is why there the ruderalis has an overall lower potency. Although the populations next to Vienna are very diverse, most plants have the typical ruderalis look: small but many leaves, not very strongly serrated leaves, and the overall look is quiet typical. Now the true potential I see in this plant is the smell and taste: there is an incredible diversity of smells and some so unique… A lot of great strains with unique flavors were made by crossing ruderalis into the line for example pineapple expres and many others… I have a great time walking through fields smelling and observing every plants, searching for the ones with great potential. The funny thing is that almost no body knows about these plants growing in Austrias main city.

 

I could talk hours about it but I’m tired of writing so here are some pictures, comments are welcome (agree or disagree with my opinion and please be indulgent about my English)

 

http://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/12/zJ5qB.jpghttp://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/12/hjQ3.jpghttp://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/12/PvulV.jpghttp://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/12/SY6zd.jpg

 

Dada

Edited September 12, 2012 by dada

[Naycha]

Welcome to Oz Stoners dada

 

Very interesting opinion, and I would love to be able to see Cannabis growing in the wild like that. Thanks for sharing, very nice photos.

 

Also your English is very good.

 

Naycha

[El Gato]

Good post mate and welcome.

 

I would like you to hang around and talk more about Euro Cannabis, I sure we all got something to learn. Nice pics too, we love pics here.

 

Great english too. Its better than most who frequent here.

[Faith]

Welcome dada mate-what a cool read, very interesting. peace to you. V

[atomar]

I lived around Vienna for 20 years and was not aware of this. Any hints as to where one would need to look? I'll add it to my itinerary for my next visit

[Hunting the best strains]

Interesting read and opinion i still think there is the three distiguised groups Sativa, Indics and Ruderalis, i thought that auto traits are ressesive traits and are normaly gone after the first cross with a bread and butter strain anyway would like to hear more from u hope u stick around aswell cheers...

[87..BUD..00]

this is cool man .. hope to here from you soon....

good read

 

87..bud..00 :pimp:

[Matanuska Thunder]

interesting read Dado, thanks for the education!

Your written english is very good too

 

much luck

Matti

[dada]

Hi again,

 

Thanks to all of you for the interest, I’m back with more pics…

 

@ atomar : You should look around fields south and east of Vienna, also if you have the occasion to go to Neusiedlersee there is a big population on the western shore.

 

@ Hunting the best strain : Your right Indica is definitely a type, an important phenotype tendency but I don’t think it should be classified as a subspecies.

 

Back to my ruderalis population, yesterday I went on a long walk, my goal was to see the biggest number of plants to maybe find an interesting plant I didn’t have a precise goal, it could be a plant with fat buds or some sort of mutant, or particular smell… On a few hundred plants I found two particular ones… The first was some sort of fasciated plant but with a round stem the leaves were all weird, one had a bud on it and there were simple leaf blades disposed like a sun around the stem… I had already seen something like this but I don’t think it is of genetic origin, I still took some seeds…

 

http://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/15/kg08L.jpg

 

The second one was a big surprise, I didn’t expect it at all, I found a plant with webbed leaf (like duckfoot), It is interesting to find this trait here… I heard it was common in pacific Islands but it’s the first time I saw one by myself… I’ll try to keep this traits through inbreeding…

 

http://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/15/5GSAh.jpghttp://www.anony.ws/i/2012/09/15/H7Tnk.jpg

 

I’ll be back soon

 

Dada

Edited September 16, 2012 by dada

[The Hash Nibbler]

Interesting Dada..... =) . Welcome to OS. Enjoy ya Strain Hunting. Peace. Nibbler.