Short answer. This is the shared vocabulary for GenetixBay articles and courses. Where growers use a word differently from botanists, both meanings are given. Terms are grouped, then alphabetical within each group.
Plant and botany
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Achene | The botanical name for a cannabis "seed": one seed inside a hard fruit wall. |
| Bract | The leafy sheath around each female flower; most glandular trichomes sit here. Growers often call it the calyx (botanically, the calyx is a much reduced structure underneath). |
| Cola | A terminal flower cluster on a main stem or branch. |
| Dioecious | Separate male and female plants. The natural, long-stable state of cannabis, and of essentially all drug-type cannabis. |
| Monoecious | Male and female flowers on one plant, bred in on purpose in some modern hemp cultivars. Not the norm for cannabis, and not the same as a stressed hermaphrodite. |
| Hermaphrodite (hermie, intersex) | A genetic female that also makes pollen sacs or bare anthers ("bananas", "nanners"). An unwanted outlier in a dioecious crop, mainly the result of poor breeding (repeated selfing, careless feminising); stress reveals it. Cull, don't breed from it. See hermaphrodites. |
| Node / internode | Node: where leaves and branches attach. Internode: stem between nodes. |
| Pistil / stigma | Growers say "pistils" or "hairs"; strictly, the visible hairs are stigmas. |
| Pre-flower | Solitary flowers at the nodes before full flowering; used to sex plants. |
| Trichome | A hair-like outgrowth. Glandular capitate-stalked trichomes make cannabinoids and terpenes. |
Life cycle and cultivation
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Autoflower (day-neutral) | Flowers by age, not night length. |
| Clone (cutting) | A rooted piece of one plant; genetically identical to the source, barring rare mutations. |
| Mother | A plant kept vegetative as a source of clones. |
| Photoperiod | Flowers in response to long nights. |
| Re-veg | Returning a flowering plant to vegetative growth by restoring long days. |
| Sinsemilla | "Without seed": unpollinated female flower. |
| Stretch | Rapid elongation in the first 2-3 weeks of flower. |
Genetics
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Allele | One version of a gene. A diploid plant carries two alleles per gene. |
| Dominant / recessive | A dominant allele shows its effect with one copy; a recessive one needs two. |
| Codominant | Both alleles show; the heterozygote is a blend of both effects. THC/CBD synthase alleles behave close to this [3]. |
| Genotype | The genetic make-up. |
| Phenotype | What you observe: genotype plus environment plus their interaction. Growers say "pheno" to mean one individual plant from a seed lot ("the #4 pheno"). |
| Chemotype / chemovar | Plant classified by chemistry. Chemotype I (THC dominant), II (THC and CBD mixed), III (CBD dominant), IV (CBG dominant), V (near cannabinoid-free) [3]. |
| Heterozygous / homozygous | Two different alleles / two identical alleles at a gene. |
| Heritability | The share of observed variation in a trait that is due to genetic differences, in a given population and environment [1]. |
| Hybrid vigour (heterosis) | Offspring outperforming the parents' average, typically strongest in F1s of unrelated parents. |
| Inbreeding depression | Loss of vigour and fertility after close inbreeding, as hidden harmful recessives become homozygous. |
| Locus (plural loci) | A position on a chromosome; usually a gene. |
| Segregation | Separation of allele pairs into gametes, which creates variation in F2 and later generations [2]. |
Breeding notation
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| P1, P2 | Parents of a cross. Convention: female listed first (female x male). |
| F1 | First filial generation: offspring of two parents. |
| F2, F3... | Offspring of F1 x F1 (or sibling crosses), and so on. In cannabis "F2" usually means sibling-crossed F1s, not selfed. |
| BX1, BX2 (BC1, BC2) | Backcross generations: offspring crossed back to one parent. |
| S1 | Seed from a plant pollinated by itself (selfed), usually by reversing one branch or a clone. |
| IBL | Inbred line: a population inbred over several generations until it breeds fairly true. No fixed generation count defines it; treat the label as a claim. |
| Polyhybrid | A line with many ancestors from different gene pools, typical of modern "strains". |
| Landrace | A locally adapted, farmer-maintained population with a distinct identity and history in a region [5]. |
| Clone-only (cut) | A selected individual kept only as clones; the name refers to one genotype. |
| Tester / test grow | Seed sent to growers to report how a line performs. |
| Feminised seed | Seed made with pollen from a sex-reversed female; nearly all progeny female. |
| Regular seed | Seed from a true male x female; about half males. |
Naming and records
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Cultivar | A plant population selected for distinct, uniform and stable traits, formally named under the ICNCP [4]. Most cannabis "strains" are not formal cultivars. |
| Strain | The popular word for a named cannabis line. Not a botanical rank; the same name can hide different genetics. |
| Accession | A sample entered in a collection (seed bank, genebank) with an ID. |
| GB-ID | GenetixBay's permanent identifier for lines, batches, plants and documents. See documenting lineage evidence. |
| Evidence levels L0-L4 | How well a lineage claim is supported: unverified, community reported, breeder reported, documented, lab-confirmed. |
Evidence ladder used in GenetixBay articles
Established (multiple studies or extension consensus), Supported (some research or strong grower consensus), Grower practice (widely used, little research), Contested, Myth.
