# Pre-flower

> The first individual flowers that form at stem nodes during late vegetative growth, letting a grower tell male from female before full flowering.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pre-flower.html
- Also written: preflower, pre-flowers, preflowers, pre flower, primordia, sex primordia
- Glossary category: Plant biology · Evidence: Established
- 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"

Pre-flowers are solitary flowers that develop at the nodes of a maturing cannabis plant, usually behind the stipules, before the plant switches to full flowering. They appear because the plant has reached sexual maturity, not because of a change in [day length](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/photoperiod.md), so photoperiod plants show them in veg.

## In practice

On photoperiod [seedlings](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/seedling.md), pre-flowers usually show about 4-6 weeks from [germination](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/germination.md), around the fourth to sixth node. Use a 10-30x loupe:
- **Female**: a small teardrop [bract](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/bract.md), soon with one or two white [stigmas](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/stigma.md).
- **Male**: a small round bud on a short stalk, no stigmas, often in a little cluster.

Wait for stigmas before calling a female. A male pre-flower can look like an unformed female for a few days.

Clones carry the sex of their mother; there is no need to sex them. [Autoflowers](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/autoflower.md) simply show pre-flowers and roll into flowering a few weeks from germination.

## Don't confuse with

- **Stipule**: a small pointed leaf-like spur at the node, present on both sexes.
- **Axillary bud**: a shoot bud, not a flower.
- **Flowering stage**: full inflorescence formation, triggered by photoperiod or age.

## Related terms

[Node](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/node.md), [Pistillate flower](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pistillate-flower.md), [Staminate flower](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/staminate-flower.md), [Dioecious](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/dioecious.md), [Photoperiod](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/photoperiod.md)

## Read more

- [Male, female and hermaphrodite cannabis: how sex works](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/basics/sex-male-female-hermaphrodite.md)
- [The cannabis life cycle, stage by stage](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/basics/life-cycle.md)

## Sources

1. Spitzer-Rimon B, Duchin S, Bernstein N, Kamenetsky R. 2019. Architecture and florogenesis in female Cannabis sativa plants. Frontiers in Plant Science 10:350. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00350