By any other name…

[Somatek]

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but when we’re talking about growing roses or our favourite flowers there’s a big gap in the semantic accuracy within the community.  So what better way to support a new community then with a discussion about proper terminology vs common grower slang.

Pistil is the first to come to mind as it’s not only misused but often misspelled as Pistol…  It’s properly the name for the entire flower made up of the ova and fused stigma and style. Surrounded of course by the perigonal bracts (usually just called bracts) which somehow growers decided to call the calyx which is actually a thin layer on the seed that’s invisible to the naked eye.  Someone must have been right stoned to bugger that up lol.

Petioles is a good term to know as the proper term for “leaf stem”, especially since red/purple petioles is usually the first sign of nutrient imbalance.

Phenotype is another poorly used/understood concept.  First we need to understand genotype; a group of plants defined by the same genetic make up.  When a genotype is grown in different enviroments it’ll express different phenotypes while still being the same genotype.  Phenotype just means the expression of a genotype in a given climate.  Chemotype is another one we often see mixed up with Chemovar; to clarify chemotype is a specific classification developed by Dr Ernest Smalls which groups pot originally as Type 1 (high THC, low CBD), Type 2 (mixed THC and CBD), Type 3 (low THC, high CBD) with two new classes being added lately; Type 4 (high CBG) and Type 5 (no significant cannabinoids, used for research purposes).  Chemovar is a more loosely defined division based on looking at the chemical profile, so not only cannabinoids but also terps, etc.

Which brings us to Strain, Variety and Cultivar; none of which are really accurate but lets go through them.  Strain is properly applied to bacteria, not plants outside of pot growers. Variety could be workable but is pretty loosely defined, Cultivar (aka cultivated variety) is what’s being used more often and fits in the loosest sense but there is also a full body of laws which define what makes a cultivar in relation to breeder rights; which no pot variety would meet so I’ve been trying to avoid it.  Personally I’ve landed on Biotype which specifically groups plants based on their genotype but is loosely used to refer to groups which share similar genotypes that express the same phenotypes in a given environment which most accurately describes the pot gene pool in my opinion.

What are some other terms people either want to clarify as I’m sure I’ve missed a lot as I just focused on my personal pet peeves.  As a semantics geek I’m equally happy to discuss or clarify any terms people see being used but aren’t clear about.

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