Why is Cannabis Sativa considered a distinct form of Cannabis? My understanding is that the word Sativa is Latin and means "cultivated." See here: < Since all cannabis consumed by people is cultivated and grown from seed, shouldn't all Cannabis be called Cannabis Sativa? And so isn't Cannabis Indica _also_ Cannabis Sativa? If taking a cutting of a plant grown from seed and rooting it means that "clone" isn't considered to have been grown from seed then maybe those plants shouldn't be called Sativa, although this would still seem to qualify as cultivation. But either way I fail to see what bearing it has on phenotype or alkaloid profile. How has it come to mean having thin leaves and high THC content?

C. sativa was originally named by Linnaeus in 1753, long before the plant was commonly used for recreation (in Europe, at least), so the name probably reflects the fact that that species was cultivated for fiber (hemp), just as many plants have the Latin name Officinalis or officinale, meaning that they were used in medicine. Later botanists considered other varieties to be sufficiently different to be different species or subspecies. (Including some interesting reasons based in the laws of the 1970s: < )

It's also not true that all Cannabis is cultivated. It can be found growing wild, either native or as a introduced plant, in many parts of the world.