Ethnobotany, Taxonomy and Phytochemistry of Cannabis sativa.

Abstract

Introduction: Cannabis is an annual dioecious plant, which shares its origins with the inception of the first agricultural human societies in Asia. Over the course of time different parts of the plant have been utilized for therapeutic and recreational purposes. Linnaeus was the first person to describe Cannabis as Cannabis sativa (C.sativa). Numerous bioactive phytochemicals are extracted from C. sativa that signal for medicinal development. Methods:The review aims to provide a different perspective of the ethnobotanical, taxonomy  and chemical aspects  from the ancient times of C. sativa. The study was conducted with the review of scientific papers from Pubmed, Scopus, Wiley Online Library, Springer, Elseveir, Science Direct, Taylor Francis and online textbooks of C. sativa.   Results: C. sativa has its origin from Asia. It has  traditional spiritual, household and therapeutic uses. Cannabis is a monotypic genera with three different varieties: C sativa var. sativa, C sativa var. indica, C sativa var.  ruderalis. A total of 565 chemicals (120 cannabinoids and 445 non cannabinoids) have been recorded in Cannabis.   Conclusions: Cannabis is an ethnobotanical rich and phytochemical significant therapeutic plant. Because of lack of scientific research, the taxonomic aspects are still hidden. This study recommends exploratory study on ethnobotanical, taxonomical and phytochemicals of Nepalese Cannabis.