What Does Indica Mean? Botany, History and Retail Use

"Indica" is a word with two separate lives. In botany it is a plant name with a long and disputed history. In shops and on packaging it is a market label that people often read as "relaxing." This page keeps the two apart. Evidence labels used here: insufficient evidence, mixed, marketing claim. This is education only, not medical or legal advice.

The botanical origin of the word

The Swedish botanist Linnaeus published the name Cannabis sativa in 1753. Thirty-two years later the French naturalist Lamarck coined Cannabis indica for plants from India, Southeast Asia and South Africa, and described them as different from C. sativa in eight morphological features (stalks, branching, leaflets and flowers) and as strongly scented and psychoactive. [1]

Linnaeus's own C. sativa was a fiber-type, non-intoxicating plant from Europe. [1] So from the start, "indica" in the botanical record meant a plant from a particular part of the world, as judged by one naturalist.

How the meaning drifted

A 2018 review of cannabis systematics (the science of naming and grouping plants) reports that later botanists reassigned the names. Plants that Schultes and colleagues described from Afghanistan were called C. indica, although Lamarck's original description was of tall, loosely branched plants with narrow leaflets and he had no knowledge of Afghan plants. [1]

The review credits de Meijer and van Soest with bringing the everyday ("vernacular") meaning into scientific papers: "Indica" for plants with broad leaflets, a compact habit and early maturation, typified by plants from Afghanistan. [1] The same review argues that the everyday "Indica" and "Sativa" "totally misalign" with the formal botanical names. [1]

Two scientific views of "indica"

Scientists still disagree about how many cannabis species there are.

• Two species. A 2004 study of 157 plant accessions supported a two-species concept. In that collection, average THC levels were significantly higher in plants assigned to C. indica than C. sativa. [2]
• One species, two subspecies. The 2018 review favors C. sativa subsp. indica for plants of Asian origin where THC is higher than CBD, based partly on DNA barcodes. [1]

Neither view says that a bag or jar of flower called "indica" in a shop is a botanical indica.

How shops use the word

In retail, "indica" is a category label. A large analysis of laboratory results from six US states notes that consumers often believe that products labeled "Indica" are reliably sedating, and that the products are heavily marketed with these labels. [3] That belief is a marketing claim. The same analysis found commercial labels do not consistently line up with the measured chemistry, though some labels were biased toward certain chemical types. [3]

A genetic study of 30 named cultivars from dispensaries in three states found two genetic groups but they did not match the Sativa, Indica and Hybrid types in online databases. [4]

Is the label a fair guide to effects?

For a single person, the label is insufficient evidence of what will happen. See why indica and sativa labels do not reliably predict effects for the studies. A review of mixed findings is on the comparison page.

Safety

THC is the compound mainly responsible for cannabis's effects on a person's mental state, and in the pain trials NCCIH summarizes, side effects were more common with cannabis or cannabinoids than with placebo. [5] A label such as "indica" does not make a product safer, milder or non-impairing. See cannabis impairment and driving and adverse effects. Talk with a clinician if you take medicines or have a health condition.