Indica, Sativa or Hybrid: What the Label Can and Can’t Tell You

Many cannabis menus in Canada, ours included, sort dried flower into three groups: indica, sativa and hybrid. The words carry less information than they seem to. This guide explains where the terms came from, what researchers found when they tested them, and which details on a Canadian label are more useful.

Where the terms come from

The names started as botany. Carl Linnaeus named Cannabis sativa in 1753, and in 1785 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described a second species, Cannabis indica, named for India. Botanists still debate whether these are separate species or varieties of a single species, as this short history of cannabis naming explains.

In the cannabis trade, the words took on a looser meaning. Growers used indica for short, bushy plants with broad leaflets and sativa for taller plants with narrow leaflets. Hybrid describes a cross between the two. After decades of cross-breeding, the ancestry of many modern plants is mixed and often poorly documented. Over time the words also became shorthand for expected effects, the part researchers have questioned most.

Indica vs sativa vs hybrid: what the research found

Genetics and strain names (2015)

A team including Dalhousie University researchers compared 81 cannabis and 43 hemp samples in a 2015 PLOS ONE study. They found only a moderate correlation between the plants’ genetic structure and their reported indica or sativa ancestry, and concluded that strain names often do not reflect a meaningful genetic identity. Of 17 comparisons between samples sold under the same strain name, 6 (35 per cent) found that a sample was genetically closer to samples with a different name than to those with its own.

Genetics and terpenes (2021)

A 2021 study in Nature Plants, also from a Dalhousie-based team, measured terpenes and cannabinoids in 297 samples from the Netherlands and analyzed DNA from 137 of them. Samples labelled sativa and indica were genetically indistinct across the genome as a whole. The labels did track a small number of aroma compounds: myrcene, guaiol and eudesmol were associated with indica labels, and bergamotene and farnesene with sativa labels. The authors suggested that measuring a few terpenes would be a more reliable way to classify cannabis.

Chemistry across 89,923 samples (2022)

A 2022 PLOS ONE study analyzed cannabinoid and terpene data from 89,923 commercial samples in six U.S. states. Labels did not consistently match the measured chemical profiles, although some leaned toward certain ones. The authors concluded that the indica, hybrid and sativa system is very unlikely to be a reliable indicator of systematically different effects.

Taken together, these studies suggest the three labels reflect naming tradition and, at most, a few aroma compounds. They are not a reliable guide to what is in a particular package.

What to read on a Canadian label instead

Federal rules set out what a cannabis label must show, and several of those details tell you more than the strain type. Health Canada explains the basics in How to read and understand a cannabis product label, and its packaging and labelling guide for cannabis products sets out the full requirements. These are the parts that matter most when comparing dried flower:

• Total THC and Total CBD. Both must appear on the front of the label. For dried flower meant to be smoked or vaporized, they are shown in milligrams per gram (mg/g). The totals account for THCA and CBDA, the acid forms in raw flower that can convert to THC and CBD.
• Converting to a percentage. Many menus show THC as a percentage. Ten mg/g equals 1 per cent, so 200 mg/g Total THC is 20 per cent.
• Lot number and packaging date. A Health Canada notice on displaying THC and CBD content says the values on a dried cannabis label should reflect testing of that lot, not historical results for the cultivar, so two packages with the same strain name can show different numbers.
• Optional information. The packaging and labelling guide allows a producer to add a strain name, a terpene profile, other cannabinoid content or THC and CBD percentages for dried cannabis. None of these is required, and the guide does not mention indica, sativa or hybrid.

Our guide on how to read a cannabis label in Canada covers the rest of the package, including the health warning and the standardized cannabis symbol.

Common terpenes and their aromas

Terpenes are aromatic compounds found in many plants, cannabis among them. When a label or listing names them, they describe how the product smells. The table covers common ones and describes aroma only.

The 2022 U.S. study found three recurring terpene patterns in THC-dominant samples: caryophyllene with limonene, myrcene with pinene, and terpinolene with myrcene. Those patterns did not line up consistently with indica, sativa or hybrid labels, which is one reason a measured terpene profile, when a producer lists one, can describe a product more precisely than its strain type.

How strain type appears on our product pages

Each listing on the flower menu shows:

• Strain type: indica, sativa or hybrid, since many people search that way.
• A THC figure, shown as a percentage.
• Flavour notes, which describe aroma, so you can compare products by smell.

We list strain type as a naming convention, not as a prediction of effects. The package label is the final reference: its Total THC and Total CBD figures apply to that lot and may differ from a menu figure. Browse the menu, or check your postal code to see whether your address is in our delivery area in Surrey, Langley and White Rock.

Frequently asked questions