The scientific name for “hemp,” an annual herbaceous plant in the Cannabis genus originating from Central Asia that has been widely used as a medicine and industrial fiber. Cannabis sativa L. contains lower levels of THC compared to Cannabis indica, therefore it does not produce a psychoactive “high.”
Cannabis sativa is an annual herbaceous flowering plant indigenous to Eastern Asia, but now of cosmopolitan distribution due to widespread cultivation. It has been cultivated throughout recorded history, used as a source of industrial fiber, seed oil, food, recreation, religious and spiritual moods and medicine. Each part of the plant is harvested differently, depending on the purpose of its use. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The word sativa means "things that are cultivated."
| Cannabis sativa | |
|---|---|
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| Female Cannabis sativa, recreational/medicinal marijuana | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Cannabaceae |
| Genus: | Cannabis |
| Species: | C. sativa
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| Binomial name | |
| Cannabis sativa | |
| Subspecies | |
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