The Cannabis Breeder's Bible (41 page)

CANNABIS RUDERALIS:
A cannabis of a variety noted for its autoflowering properties.

CANNABIS SATIVA:
A cannabis of a variety noted by its long broad traits and longer flowering period. It has a more head high type of effect and is less physical.

CAPITATE STALKED TRICHOME:
The most common type of trichome, typically mushroom shaped and somewhat long.

CARBON DIOXIDE:
A colorless, odorless, incombustible gas, CO
₂
, formed during respiration, combustion, and organic decomposition and used in food refrigeration, carbonated beverages, inert atmospheres, fire extinguishers, and aerosols. Also called carbonic acid gas.

CAROTENOID:
Any of a class of yellow to red pigments, including the carotenes and the xanthophylls.

CELL:
The smallest structural unit of an organism that is capable of independent functioning, consisting of one or more nuclei, cytoplasm, and various organelles, all surrounded by a semipermeable cell membrane.

CHLOROPHYLL:
the green photosynthetic coloring matter of plants found in chloroplasts and made up chiefly of a blue-black ester C
₅₅
H
₇₂
MgN
₄
O
₅
and a dark green ester C
₅₅
H
₇₀
MgN
₄
O
₆
called also respectively chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b.

CHLOROSIS:
The yellowing or whitening of normally green plant tissue because of a decreased amount of chlorophyll, often as a result of disease or nutrient deficiency.

CHROMOSOME:
A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated proteins in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information.

CLONE:
An asexually propagated living organism. A clone is different from a cutting because it has a root mass.

COLCHICINE:
A poisonous, pale-yellow alkaloid, C
₂₂
H
₂₅
NO
₆
, obtained from the autumn crocus and used in plant breeding to induce chromosome doubling.

COTYLEDON:
A leaf of the embryo of a seed plant, which upon germination either remains in the seed or emerges, enlarges, and becomes green. Also called seed leaf.

CROSS-POLLINATE:
To pollinate (a flower) by means of cross-pollination.

CUBING:
Selective, but random, mating of a female by using all of her offspring’s pollen in a backcrossing operation to produce a population of offspring for further breeding selection.

CULTIVAR:
A race or variety of a plant that has been created or selected intentionally and maintained through cultivation.

CURING:
To prepare, preserve, or finish (a substance) by a chemical or physical process.

CUTTING:
To remove a branch with leaves from the plant using a blade to be later transplanted and grown into a clone. Cuttings do not have roots. Cutting that have grown a new root mass are called clones.

CYTOKININ:
Any of a class of plant hormones that promote cell division and growth and delay the senescence of leaves.

D

DIOECIOUS:
Having the male and female reproductive organs borne on separate individuals of the same species. Characterized by species in which the male and female reproductive organs occur on different individuals; sexually distinct.

DIPLOID:
Having a pair of each type of chromosome, so that the basic chromosome number is doubled: diploid somatic cells.

DOMINANT:
Of, relating to, or being an allele that produces the same phenotypic effect whether inherited with a homozygous or heterozygous allele.

E

ELONGATE:
To make or grow longer.

ENZYME:
Any of numerous proteins or conjugated proteins produced by living organisms and functioning as biochemical catalysts.

EPISTASIS:
An interaction between nonallelic genes, especially an interaction in which one gene suppresses the expression of another.

EVOLUTION:
Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species. The historical development of a related group of organisms; phylogeny.

F

FATHER:
Any male donor in a breeding project or a specific male that contributes to the mother plant to produce a stable population of offspring.

FILIAL:
Of or relating to a generation or the sequence of generations following the parental generation; Filial Generation 1 = F1, Filial Generation 2 = F2.

FITNESS:
The extent to which an organism is adapted to or able to produce offspring in a particular environment.

FLOWERING:
The final stage of plant growth where the plant develops its sexual organs for reproduction.

FUNGICIDE:
A chemical substance that destroys or inhibits the growth of fungi.

FUNGUS:
Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue and range in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies. The kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.

G

GAMETE:
A reproductive cell having the haploid number of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.

GENE:
A hereditary unit consisting of a sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism. Genes undergo mutation when their DNA sequence changes.

GENOTYPE:
The genetic makeup, as distinguished from the physical appearance, of an organism or a group of organisms. The combination of alleles located on homologous chromosomes that determines a specific characteristic or trait.

GENUS:
A taxonomic category ranking below a family and above a species and generally consisting of a group of species exhibiting similar characteristics. In taxonomic nomenclature the genus name is used, either alone or followed by a Latin adjective or epithet, to form the name of a species.

GIBBERELLIN
: Any of several plant hormones, such as gibberellic acid, used to promote stem elongation.

H

HEMP:
Cannabis. The tough, coarse fiber of the cannabis plant, used to make cordage. Any of various plants similar to cannabis, especially one yielding a similar fiber. The fiber of such a plant.

HERMAPHRODITE:
An animal or plant exhibiting hermaphroditism.

HERMAPHRODITISM/HERMAPHRODISM
: An anomalous condition in humans and animals in which both male and female reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics are present in the same individual.

HETEROSIS:
A marked vigor or capacity for growth that is often shown by crossbred animals or plants called also hybrid vigor.

HETEROZYGOUS:
Having different alleles at one or more corresponding chromosomal loci. Of or relating to a heterozygote.

HID:
High Intensity Discharge (lighting)

HPS:
High Pressure Sodium (HID bulb in red spectrum for flowering)

HOMOGENEOUS/HOMOZYGOUS
: Having the same alleles at a particular gene locus on homologous chromosomes.

HORMONE:
A synthetic compound, or naturally produced similar substances found in plants and that regulate their development.

HUMIDITY:
The amount of water vapour in the environment.

HYBRID:
The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.

HYBRID VIGOUR:
See Heterosis

I

IBL:
Abbreviation for In Bred Line and refers to a strain that is stable for the vast majority of its traits and will breed true in the offspring.

INBREEDING:
To breed by the continued mating of closely related individuals, especially to preserve desirable traits in a stock. To breed or develop within; engender.

INCANDESCENT
: A kind of bulb in which the light is produced by a thin filament of conducting material, usually carbon.

INSECTICIDE:
A chemical substance used to kill insects.

INTERNODE:
A section or part between two node regions. Also called the Internode distance.

L

LADYBETTLE/LADYBIRD/LADYBUG:
Any of numerous small, rounded, usually brightly colored beetles of the family Coccinellidae, often reddish with black spots and feeding primarily on insect pests, such as scale insects and aphids.

LANDRACE:
A population of plants, commonly found in the wild, with some manmade influences suggesting cultivation in its lineage, even though it may now grow wild.

LIFE-CYCLE:
The stages of the plant’s natural growth from start to finish.

LIGHT-MOVER:
An electrical motor that allows movement of a HID light, typically in a circular motion. Also called a Light-Rail.

LINKAGE:
An association between two or more genes such that the traits they control tend to be inherited together.

LOCI:
The plural of Locus.

LOCUS:
The position that a given gene occupies on a chromosome.

M

MANICURING:
To clip undesirable parts of the plant for either drying or curing.

MATURITY:
A plant reaches maturity when it is capable of displaying it sex.

MEIOSIS:
The process of cell division in sexually reproducing organisms that reduces the number of chromosomes in reproductive cells from diploid to haploid, leading to the production of gametes in plants.

MERISTEM
: The undifferentiated plant tissue from which new cells are formed, as that at the tip of a stem or root.

MH:
Metal Halide (HID bulb in blue spectrum for vegetative growth)

MITOSIS:
The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides, typically consisting of four stages, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, and normally resulting in two new nuclei, each of which contains a complete copy of the parental chromosomes. Also called karyokinesis.

MONOECIOUS:
Having unisexual reproductive organs or flowers, with the organs or flowers of both sexes borne on a single plant, as in corn and pines. Relating to or exhibiting hermaphroditism.

MOTHER:
Any female donor in a breeding project or a specific female that produces a stable population of offspring with the right male.

MUTATION:
A change of the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type. The process by which such a change occurs in a chromosome, either through an alteration in the nucleotide sequence of the DNA coding for a gene or through a change in the physical arrangement of a chromosome.

N

NECROSIS:
Death of cells or tissues through injury or disease.

NODE:
The point on a stem or a branch, where a leaf or branch is attached or has been attached. The region where a leaf is joined to a petiole or where the petiole is joined to a branch, or where a branch meets the stem.

NUTRIENT
: A source of nourishment, especially nourishing substances. Minerals used for plant food.

O

OFFSPRING:
See Progeny