A dioecious species has separate male and female individuals: each plant carries only staminate (male) or only pistillate (female) flowers. Cannabis is naturally dioecious. Females are XX and males XY, with sex chromosomes confirmed by cytogenetics and genome studies (Divashuk et al. 2014; Prentout et al. 2020). Seed populations normally come out roughly half male, half female.
In practice
Dioecy is why growers sex plants and why seedless flower is possible: remove the males, keep the females unpollinated. It is also why regular seed matters for breeders. Every true cross needs a male, which is why GenetixBay encourages keeping and documenting good males in the Stud Book.
Feminised seed is made by inducing pollen on a female; the offspring are XX and almost all female.
Don't confuse with
- Monoecious: male and female flowers on the same plant, as in some bred hemp cultivars.
- Hermaphrodite (intersex): an abnormal dioecious individual showing both sexes.
- Feminised: a seed-production method, not a change to the species' biology.
Myth check
GenetixBay position: drug-type cannabis has been recorded as dioecious and stable throughout history. Herm-prone lines are mainly the result of breeder error (repeated selfing, careless feminising, unstable "pollen chucker" releases), not a natural tendency. Stress reveals susceptible genetics; it doesn't make intersex normal. See Mythbusters.
Cannabis uses an XY sex determination system: females carry two X chromosomes (XX) and males an X and a Y (XY), so regular seed is roughly half male.The Stud Book is GenetixBay's showcase of documented male plants, with selection journals, keeper details and sire credits; males are encouraged and rewarded.Feminised seed is seed made by pollinating a female with pollen from another female (or itself) that was chemically reversed, so nearly every seed grows into a female.A female flower with a pistil but no functional stamens; in cannabis, a bract-wrapped ovary topped by two stigmas.Hemp is cannabis grown for fibre, seed or other uses and, in many laws, defined as Cannabis sativa with no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight.In cannabis growing, a plant (usually female) that develops both pistillate and staminate flowers or anthers; botanists call it intersex or monoecious expression.Herm-prone describes a line whose plants often produce intersex flowers; GenetixBay treats this as a breeding fault and a reason not to breed from it.A pollen chucker is someone who crosses two popular plants, skips selection and testing, and sells or spreads the seed as a new line.Having both male and female flowers on the same individual plant; in cannabis, a trait deliberately bred into some hemp cultivars, not the natural norm.A male flower that carries stamens (anthers on filaments) and no functional pistil; in cannabis, five drooping sepals around five pollen-shedding anthers.
