Ghazni

Genetics: Afghan Hindu Kush Cannabis Landrace Sourcing: Landrace Genetics, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, 2020 Harvest Purpose: Charas （sieved resin） Latitude: 34° N Harvest: October Height: Up to 2 meters Characteristics: Broad- to medium-width leaflets, intense resin Grow Type: Outdoor, greenhouse, or indoor A cannabis landrace from Ghazni, an ancient centre of cannabis culture in the southeastern Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. Since at least the colonial era, charas production in Ghazni has been both for local consumption by Afghans and for export south to the markets of what are now Pakistan and India. Historically, the region of Ghazni Province also appears to have been a major centre of radical cannabis countercultures. Qalandar dervishes, who were crucial figures in the worldwide diffusion of chronic cannabis consumption out of Central Asia, are documented in the Ghaznavid Empire from the 12th century. The Ghaznavid emperor Khusraw Shah （1152-60 CE） is recorded receiving blessings from a barefoot qalandar who “dressed in a black goat’s skin. On his head he wore a cap of the same material, ornamented with horns. In his hand he carried a club adorned with rings, pierced ankle-bones, and small round bells.” By the early 13th century, qalandars had risen to prominence across India, the Middle East, and North Africa, reaching as far as southern Spain and bringing with them plants and products that Arabs gave the name “hashish”. Phenotypic plasticity is a crucial consideration when appraising plants from photographs such as these. Sowing dense rows is common in production of charas （hashish）. Plants develop a columnar single-stem architecture that can provide a considerably higher total yield from a field than the wide spacing and heavy branching favoured by underground growers in the West. But, given space, this domesticate will exhibit a larger, rounder, and more heavily branched architecture. Traditional Hindu Kush Cannabis domesticates are now critically endangered