 genus of Cannibis Sativa
The taxonomy (ordering and naming) of Cannabis has never been adequately carried out. Early research placed the genus Cannabis within the Families of either the Moraceae (mulberry) or the Urticaceae (nettle). Now there is general agreement that the plant belongs in a separate family, the Cannabaceae, along with one other genus, Humulus, the hops plant. (See section on Grafting in section 18.)
A modern Scheme for the phylogeny of Cannabis would be:
Subdivision Angiospermae (flowering plants)
Class Dicotyledoneae (dicots)
Order Uriticales (nettle order)
Family Cannabaceae (hemp family)
Genus Cannabis (hemp plant)
Below the genus level, there is no general agreement on how many species should be recognised within Cannabis. The Cannabis lineage has not been possible to trace after thousands of years of human intervention.
Most research refers to Cannabis as a single species - Cannabis sativa L. (The word Cannabis comes from ancient vernacular names for hemp, such as the Greek Kannabis; sativa means "cultivated" in Latin; L. stands for Linnaeus, the botanical author of the name.) But some botanists who are studying Cannabis believe there are more than one species within the genus.
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