Cannabis sativa L., Cannabaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 8.5 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Cannabis indica Lam. [= Cannabis sativa subsp. indica]; Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. [= Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa]

Common name(s): [more details]

English: dope, grass, hemp, Indian hemp, marihuana, marijuana, Mary Jane, pot, reefer

French: chanvre, chanvre d'Inde, chanvre indien

Hawaiian: paka lōlō

Hindi: ganja, ganju

Spanish: cáñamo, grifa, hachís, mariguana

Tahitian: pakalolo

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Stout annual herbs 1-3 m tall.  Leaflets (1-)3-7(-11), narrowly lanceolate to linear, 5-15 cm long, 0.3-1.5 cm wide.  Staminate sepals ca. 4-5 mm long.  Achenes pale yellow to brown, smooth, shiny, 4-5 mm long, the fruiting bract up to ca. 8 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999, p. 490).

"Plants 1-3 m tall. Branchlets densely white pubescent. Stipules linear. Leaves alternate; petiole 2-7 cm; leaf blade abaxially whitish green, strigose, and with scattered brownish resinous dots, adaxially dark green and with cystolith hairs; leaflets usually lanceolate to linear, (3-)7-15 x (0.2-)0.5-1.5(-2) cm with longest in middle, margin coarsely serrate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences ca. 25 cm. Male flowers: yellowish green, nodding; pedicel 2-4 mm, thin; sepals ovate to lanceolate, 2.5-4 mm, membranous, with sparse prostrate hairs; petals absent; filament 0.5-1 mm; anthers oblong. Female inflorescences crowded in apical leaf axils among leaflike bracts and bracteoles. Female flowers: green, sessile; calyx sparsely pubescent; ovary globose, ± enclosed by appressed calyx, surrounded closely by bract and bracteoles. Persistent bracts yellow. Achene flattened ovoid, 2-5 mm; pericarp crustaceous, finely reticulate" (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed, widely distributed by humans.

Native range:  "Presumed to be native to central Asia, but one of the most ancient of cultivated species, widely cultivated and naturalized in many areas"  (Wagner et al., 1999, p. 490).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Alamagan Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 26)
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Pagan Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 26)
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Rota Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 26)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced	Smith, Albert C. (1981) (p. 167) Vouchers cited: DA 2533, DA 17316, DA 2417
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Tahuata (Tuhuata) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Bora Bora Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Huahine Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Moorea Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Taha‘a Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 27)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 26)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1981) (voucher ID: BISH 480837) Taxon name on voucher: Cannabis sativa subsp. indica (Lam.) E. Small & Cronquist
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 490)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1937) (voucher ID: BISH 58388) Taxon name on voucher: Cannabis sativa subsp. indica (Lam.) E. Small & Cronquist
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Majuro (Mãjro) Atoll	introduced cultivated	Vander Velde, Nancy (2003) (p. 80) Probably no longer present. "Persons responsible for its cultivation were asked to leave the country or face criminal charges".
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 26) Vouchers cited: MacKee 34040, Service des Douanes s.n. (NOU)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive cultivated	Australian Biological Resources Study (2008)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive cultivated	Australian Biological Resources Study (2008)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	probably native cultivated	Harvard University (2007)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 462) Escape from cultivation
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2009)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2009)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2009)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Indian Ocean offshore islands) Christmas Island Group	Christmas Island	introduced cultivated	Swarbrick, J. T. (1997) (p. 107) "Now extinct".

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast and Florida) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2009)
United States (continental except west coast and Florida) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2009)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Cannabis sativa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cannabis sativa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cannabis sativa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

Other Latin names:  Cannabis indica Lam. [= Cannabis sativa subsp. indica]; Cannabis ruderalis Janisch. [= Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa]

References:

Australian Biological Resources Study. 2008. Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1937. Voucher specimen #BISH58388(Bangs, A.M. s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1981. Voucher specimen #BISH480837(Higashino, P.K. 9720).

Fosberg, F. R. 1997. Preliminary checklist of the flowering plants and ferns of the Society Islands. Ed. by David R. Stoddart. U. Cal. Berkeley.

Harvard University. 2007. Flora of China (online resource).

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Raulerson, L. 2006. Checklist of Plants of the Mariana Islands. University of Guam Herbarium Contribution 40:1-69. .

Smith, Albert C. 1981. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 2. 810 pp.

Swarbrick, J. T. 1997. Environmental weeds and exotic plants on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: a report to Parks Australia. 101 pp. plus appendix.

U. S. Government. 2009. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2009. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2009. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Vander Velde, Nancy. 2003. The vascular plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Atoll Research Bulletin No. 503:1-141.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.