Field Guides

Indica, sativa and hybrid: what the labels really mean

By SŌMA 8 min read Updated

Breeders, shops and buyers sort cannabis into indica, sativa and hybrid, and the words come with a promise: indica to settle you, sativa to lift you. Buyers take them seriously. In a 2018 survey of adult cannabis users in seven US states, the type ranked second only to quality among 20 things they said mattered when buying at a dispensary.

This guide sets out where the words come from, what studies find when they test the labels against the plant's genetics and chemistry, and what is still unknown about how they feel. Its sources are listed at the end.

Where the words come from

They began as botanical names. Linnaeus named Cannabis sativa in 1753; in 1785 Lamarck named Cannabis indica, for plants from India, Southeast Asia and South Africa. Botanists still disagree on whether these are separate species. A 2018 review of the evidence treats them as two subspecies of one species, Cannabis sativa.

Lamarck's two species already differed in their stalks, branching, leaflets and flowers, but the menu meanings came later. In the 1970s and 1980s, botanists reassigned the names: “indica” went to very short, broad-leaved plants described in Afghanistan, and “sativa” to plants matching Lamarck's original Cannabis indica, which he had described as relatively tall, laxly branched and narrow-leaved. That became today's everyday use, in which “indica” means a compact plant with broad leaflets that matures early, typified by plants from Afghanistan, and “sativa” a tall, slender plant with narrow leaflets that matures late, typified by plants from India and their descendants in Thailand, South and East Africa, Colombia and Mexico. The 2018 review finds that this use does not line up with the botanical names: in its summary, the menu's “sativa” is botanically indica, and the menu's “indica” is what botanists have called afghanica.

What studies find in the plant

Interbreeding has blurred the two lines. The 2018 review describes hybridisation of “Sativa” and “Indica” as so widespread that it has rendered their distinction almost meaningless. A 2015 genetic study of 81 drug-type samples found only a moderate match between a strain's reported sativa or indica ancestry and its DNA.

The chemistry tells a similar story. In a six-state study of lab results for flower, the indica, hybrid and sativa labels did not reliably sort more than 40,000 samples of THC-dominant flower by their terpene profiles, and the authors judged it highly unlikely that the labels are a reliable indicator of different effects. In Washington State's testing data, the labels accounted for about 1% of the variation in THC, and flower labelled sativa and indica did not differ in it.

There is one pattern. In a study of 297 samples from Dutch sources, funded mainly by a Dutch medical-cannabis producer that supplied some of them, the labels followed a few aroma compounds: flower called indica tended to carry more myrcene and three less familiar terpenes, and flower called sativa more of two compounds the authors describe as tea-like and fruity. The authors suggest that growers and breeders have been assigning the labels mainly by aroma and purported effects, rather than by ancestry. The six-state study found one terpene group, high in terpinolene and myrcene, in which sativa labels were over-represented.

What people report, and what is not known

Many users say the labels match how cannabis feels to them. In an online survey of 179 cannabis users, people were more likely to report feeling sleepy or relaxed after indica, and alert, energised or motivated after sativa. In a two-week study in which 101 regular users logged each session, flower classified as indica-dominant (by a popular strain website) was linked to more low-arousal feelings, such as feeling sluggish, after accounting for the users' stated preferences and general expectations.

Neither study can say why. Both rest on people's own reports, without blinding, and the authors of both call for controlled laboratory studies; the survey's authors ask in particular whether expectations explain the difference. We found no blinded, controlled study that has tested whether flower labelled indica and sativa feel different.

Whether terpenes, among the plant's aroma compounds, change how cannabis feels is also unsettled. It is part of the idea often called the entourage effect: that the plant's compounds act together. The authors of the six-state study write that whether different mixes of cannabinoids and terpenes consistently produce different subjective effects is unknown, and a topic of debate. Laboratory studies disagree: one found that five common terpenes had no direct effect at the cannabinoid receptors THC acts on, apart from one possible weak interaction; another found that several terpenes activated one of those receptors in cells and produced cannabis-like behaviours in mice. In one small double-blind study, 12 of 20 adults also inhaled the highest doses tested together, in a session that always came last; pure limonene vaporised with THC lowered their ratings of feeling anxious and paranoid and changed nothing else measured. Pure compounds at set doses say little about limonene-rich flower, and none of this tells you how a jar labelled indica or sativa will feel.

What is established is simpler. THC is the main compound behind the high, and New York's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) notes that the amount of it in a product can change how it affects you, and that how soon effects arrive and how long they last varies from person to person. A review of human studies found that people who use cannabis regularly tend to feel a given dose less.

On a New York shelf

New York's label rules do not ask for a type. The front of a flower label must give total THC and total CBD as percentages, the net quantity and the brand name; the rest of the label carries the processor, the expiration date and a QR code or link to the lab certificate, among other things. OCM notes that inhaled products typically list the cultivar, or strain. OCM's account of what a certificate covers names the cannabinoids and contaminants such as microbes, metals and pesticides; it names no test of type.

Some New York Metrc Retail ID records SŌMA has read give only a broad type, such as “Hybrid”, where a strain name would go. Our guide to the New York cannabis QR code explains who fills in that line.

Using the labels with care

  • Read the type as a rough hint, not a prediction of how flower will feel.
  • Look at what was measured: total THC on the label, and the terpenes on the lab certificate. OCM's testing rules require every final product, flower included, to be tested for terpenes, so a certificate should list them; the label itself must show a terpene profile only when terpenes are marketed.
  • Note the aroma when you open the package, and record what you liked by its aroma and its grower, not only by its type; Why the same strain can feel different explains why the grower matters.
  • With anything new, start low and go slow: OCM advises waiting 5 to 10 minutes after one or two puffs before having more.

How treats the labels

SŌMA's strain records note the type a strain is usually described as, and Strains can be filtered by it. When you match a menu, the score leans mostly on the aroma, flavour and effect notes in each record and on how close a strain is to the ones you love. The type plays a smaller part: a type you say you prefer adds a tie-breaking nudge, a shared type counts a little towards closeness, and if you say flower is often too light for you, strains recorded as sativa without a heavier body are marked down. A record's effect notes come from how a strain is described, not from a measurement: no lab certificate tests for effect. More in How SŌMA works.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is indica always relaxing and sativa always energising?

No one has shown that. Many users report feeling more relaxed after indica and more alert after sativa, but studies that tested the labels against the plant's genetics and chemistry found they do not reliably sort flower, and we found no blinded, controlled study of the felt difference.

What is a hybrid?

On a menu, a plant described as a cross of the indica and sativa lines. A 2018 review of the botany finds interbreeding so widespread that it has rendered the distinction almost meaningless, so the word says little about a particular plant.

If the labels are unreliable, why are they still used?

They are familiar, and buyers weigh them: in one 2018 survey of US cannabis users, the type ranked second only to quality among 20 things that mattered when buying. One genetic study suggests growers and breeders may assign the labels mainly by aroma and purported effects.

Does a New York label have to say indica or sativa?

No. New York's label rules ask for total THC and CBD, the brand, the net quantity, the processor, the expiration date and a QR code or link to the lab certificate, among other things, but not a type. Some Metrc Retail ID records give only a broad type where a strain name would go; see our QR code guide.

What should I rely on instead?

What was measured and what you notice: total THC on the label, the terpenes on the lab certificate (New York requires terpene testing of flower), the aroma when you open the package, and your own notes on what you liked and who grew it. With anything new, start low and go slow.

Corrections

  • We called the indica/sativa/hybrid split the most common shorthand on any menu and the most misunderstood, said almost every menu sorts cannabis this way and almost every newcomer is told indica means relaxing and sativa energising, and said that almost everything on a modern menu, the large majority of cannabis on the market, is a hybrid. We had no count or source for any of these. The guide now says what studies found: that interbreeding has blurred the two lines, that the industry and buyers attach these effects to the labels, and that buyers rank the type highly when they choose.
  • We said the terms began as botanical descriptions of plants that grew in different regions and looked different, broad versus narrow leaves and short versus tall. They did begin as botanical names, Linnaeus's (1753) and Lamarck's (1785), and Lamarck's two species differed in form; but the short, broad-leaved “indica” and tall, narrow-leaved “sativa” of a menu come from botanists' reassignment of the names in the 1970s and 1980s, which a 2018 review finds does not match the originals: Lamarck's indica was relatively tall and narrow-leaved. The guide now says so.
  • We called the labels a useful starting vocabulary that gives a broad sense of direction, said plenty of people find them directionally useful, that two “sativas” can feel nothing alike, and that a given plant can cut right across its label. Surveys find that users report different effects from indica and sativa, and studies find the labels do not reliably sort flower by genetics or chemistry; we found no source for the rest and removed it. The guide now gives what the studies found and what they could not show.
  • We said effect is driven by the plant's actual chemistry — its mix of cannabinoids and terpenes — plus dose, setting and you. That THC and the amount taken shape the effect, and that it varies from person to person, is supported; whether terpenes change it in people is unsettled, and we found no study measuring how setting changes the effect. The guide now presents the terpene question as contested and leaves setting out.
  • We advised reading a listing's aroma and effect description and noting the experiences you want — calm, focus, social, sleep — and said this is more reliable than the indica/sativa/hybrid split alone. We had no source for that comparison, and a listing's effect notes are descriptions, not measurements. The guide now points to what is measured, total THC and the lab's terpene results, to the aroma and to your own notes, and gives the Office of Cannabis Management's advice to start low.
  • We said SŌMA records the type for orientation but matches on aroma, flavour and effect, because that describes the experience far more precisely than a three-way split ever could. SŌMA's Match also takes the type into account, as a smaller part of the score (a stated preference, closeness to the strains you love, and a stated dislike of flower that is too light), and we had no source for the comparison. The guide now says what Match does and that a record's effect notes are not measurements.