CANNABIS: AN EXAMPLE OF 
TAXONOMIC NEGLECT 
BY 
RicHarp Evans Scuuures,’ WituiaAM M. Kern,’ 
TimorHy PLowMaNn’® AND Tom E. Lockwoop * 
The story of marijuana 
is not yet written. 
, —H.H. Now ttss 
It is often true that we know less about the classifica- 
tion of our widely cultivated plants than we do about 
some of the rare wild species of limited or endemic dis- 
tribution. The cultivation and dispersal of a domesti- 
cated plant tend to alter the organism in many ways, 
often so drastically that it may be difficult or even im- 
possible to point to a wild species as its progenitor. 
Sometimes the plant is so dramatically changed that it 
becomes wholly dependent on man for its survival (21). 
The genus Cannabis provides an excellent example of 
an important group of useful plants the classification of 
which has long been clouded in uncertainty. One of man’s 
oldest domesticates, dating back nearly to the beginnings 
of agriculture, Cannabis as we now know it has developed 
together with man as a multi-purpose economic plant: 
' Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences and Director, 
Botanical Museum, Harvard University. 
“ Assistant Director, Missouri Botanical Garden. 
* Research Fellow in Economic Botany, Botanical Museum, Har- 
vard University. 
* Assistant Professor of Botany, University of Illinois, Urbana. 
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