# Kush

> Kush is a generic name for cannabis tied to landrace material from the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now for its many hybrid descendants.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/kush.html
- Also written: kushes, Hindu Kush, kush strains, kushy
- Glossary category: Grower slang and culture · Evidence: Supported
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

Kush refers to cannabis from, or descended from, the Hindu Kush mountain region spanning Afghanistan and Pakistan. [Landraces](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace.md) there were grown for [hashish](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hashish.md), and the name now covers a wide family of [hybrids](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hybrid.md).

## In practice

Hindu Kush-type plants are typically short, stocky and broad-leafleted, with fast flowering and heavy resin, adapted to a short mountain season and selected over generations for sieved and hand-pressed [hash](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hash.md). Seed brought out in the 1970s became foundation stock for many indoor lines. Today "kush" on a label is mostly a family tag: it may mean real kush ancestry, a generic earthy-pine-hash aroma, or nothing.

## Don't confuse with

- **Indica**: kush plants are the textbook "indica" shape, but the indica/sativa split is not a reliable guide to effects or species.
- **OG**: a modern family often grouped with kush.

## Myth check

"Kush means indica means sedating." GenetixBay position: indica vs sativa is nonsense as a guide to effects or species. Nearly everything today is a hybrid of one species, *[Cannabis sativa](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cannabis-sativa.md)* L., and labels do not predict chemistry (McPartland 2018; Watts et al. 2021). See [indica, sativa, ruderalis](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/indica-sativa-ruderalis.md).

## Related terms

[Landrace](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/landrace.md), [OG](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/og.md), [Haze](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/haze.md), [Skunk](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/skunk.md)

## Read more

- [Landraces of the world: an overview](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/landraces-of-the-world.md)
- [Indica, sativa and ruderalis: what the names really mean](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/genetics-history/indica-sativa-ruderalis.md)

## Sources

1. McPartland JM. 2018. Cannabis systematics at the levels of family, genus, and species. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research 3(1):203-212. https://doi.org/10.1089/can.2018.0039
2. Watts S, McElroy M, Migicovsky Z, et al. 2021. Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes. Nature Plants 7:1330-1334. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-01003-y
3. Clarke RC, Merlin MD. 2013. Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany. University of California Press.