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Dr. Cannabis

Glossary

Sativa

A commercial label associated with energising effects. Like "indica", not supported by genomics as an effect predictor.

The same genomic and commercial-chemistry work that undercut "indica" applies here. Farnesene and bergamotene were associated with sativa labelling; the first ten genetic principal components explained only 37% of labelling variance.

In an analysis of nearly 90,000 commercial samples, indica, hybrid, and sativa categories were "highly intermingled" with no clear chemical separation.

Also written as: sativa strain.

Related terms

Sources

  1. Watts S, McElroy M, Migicovsky Z, Maassen H, van Velzen R, Myles S. Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes. Nature Plants. 2021;7(10):1330-1334.(DOI 10.1038/s41477-021-01003-y)Accessed 2026-08-15.
  2. Smith CJ, Vergara D, Keegan B, Jikomes N. The phytochemical diversity of commercial Cannabis in the United States. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(5):e0267498.(DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0267498)Accessed 2026-08-15.