What is the purpose of THC to marijuana plants?

[rrog]

Chronic, that's really about the best answer I come up with. THC seems fantastically inefficient in any of the other proposed roles. I'm a biologist and intuitively the UV-screen, insecticide, animal repellent ideas are all awkward.

I really wonder if it's here just for us, as unscientific as that sounds. Clearly the plant has gone to extraordinary lengths to produce the Trichomes, which seem exclusively present to produce THC and related Cannabinoids.

The THC molecules (to me) seem very useless in any capacity other than to bind to a specific receptor in our nervous system.

 

[Owl Mirror]

Chronic, that's really about the best answer I come up with. THC seems fantastically inefficient in any of the other proposed roles. I'm a biologist and intuitively the UV-screen, insecticide, animal repellent ideas are all awkward.

I really wonder if it's here just for us, as unscientific as that sounds. Clearly the plant has gone to extraordinary lengths to produce the Trichomes, which seem exclusively present to produce THC and related Cannabinoids.

The THC molecules (to me) seem very useless in any capacity other than to bind to a specific receptor in our nervous system.

These antidotal complements of the Satania life currents were derived from the fruit of the tree of life, a shrub of Edentia which was sent to Urantia by the Most Highs of Norlatiadek at the time of Caligastia’s arrival. In the days of Dalamatia this tree grew in the central courtyard of the temple of the unseen Father, and it was the fruit of the tree of life that enabled the material and otherwise mortal beings of the Prince’s staff to live on indefinitely as long as they had access to it.

The Tree of Life

In the center of the Garden temple Van planted the long-guarded tree of life, whose leaves were for the “healing of the nations,” and whose fruit had so long sustained him on earth. Van well knew that Adam and Eve would also be dependent on this gift of Edentia for their life maintenance after they once appeared on Urantia in material form.

The “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” may be a figure of speech, a symbolic designation covering a multitude of human experiences, but the “tree of life” was not a myth; it was real and for a long time was present on Urantia. When the Most Highs of Edentia approved the commission of Caligastia as Planetary Prince of Urantia and those of the one hundred Jerusem citizens as his administrative staff, they sent to the planet, by the Melchizedeks, a shrub of Edentia, and this plant grew to be the tree of life on Urantia.

This superplant stored up certain space-energies which were antidotal to the age-producing elements of animal existence. The fruit of the tree of life was like a superchemical storage battery, mysteriously releasing the life-extension force of the universe when eaten.

 

[Chronic777]

Chronic, that's really about the best answer I come up with. THC seems fantastically inefficient in any of the other proposed roles. I'm a biologist and intuitively the UV-screen, insecticide, animal repellent ideas are all awkward.

I really wonder if it's here just for us, as unscientific as that sounds. Clearly the plant has gone to extraordinary lengths to produce the Trichomes, which seem exclusively present to produce THC and related Cannabinoids.

The THC molecules (to me) seem very useless in any capacity other than to bind to a specific receptor in our nervous system.

Its nice to have scientific explanations, but i don't see how its any less valid to say this plant is an entheogenic medicine

 

[rrog]

I have to agree

 

[Big D]

It is the purpose of all seed bearing plants to spread their seed. The same reason an apple is sweet... an animal comes along and eats the apple and later on poops out the seeds and so on and so on. The cannabis plant is the most successful at this. The reason it contains THC is so that WE will send those seeds around the world Lots of plants produce resin as protection from the elements but those resins don't contain THC.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Its pretty obvious to me it makes THC as a medicine, and it makes sure animals dont eat it, cause to them it taste's rank

These two statements contradict each other. Plants either evolved THC production as a defense mechanism, or as their contribution to the man/cannabis symbiotic relationship... you cant have it both ways. What does pure THC taste like, by the way?

Chronic, that's really about the best answer I come up with. THC seems fantastically inefficient in any of the other proposed roles. I'm a biologist and intuitively the UV-screen, insecticide, animal repellent ideas are all awkward.

I really wonder if it's here just for us, as unscientific as that sounds. Clearly the plant has gone to extraordinary lengths to produce the Trichomes, which seem exclusively present to produce THC and related Cannabinoids.

The THC molecules (to me) seem very useless in any capacity other than to bind to a specific receptor in our nervous system.

Sorry guys, but I dont think that explanation is at all sound. You are implying a symbiotic co-evolutionary relationship, for which there is little evidence: the genus cannabis in no way relies on human propagation for survival.

Many many chemicals in nature happen to be psycoactive/medicinal, should we assume that all of these are here just for our enjoyment/medication? Absolutely not, it would be absurd to do so.

I mean, the gene for THC production HAD to be around before agriculturalists started selecting for potency right? To me, it makes more sense that THC provided some other purpose for Cannabis prior to its domestication, and humanity has over time bred out the undesirable traits and kept the beneficial ones.

 

[Chronic777]

These two statements contradict each other. Plants either evolved THC production as a defense mechanism, or as their contribution to the man/cannabis symbiotic relationship... you cant have it both ways.

Um, yes i can

Your telling me that a plant couldn't be here as medicine for man, yet at the same time repell animals from eating it?
It makes perfect sense that such a great medicine would repell animals from eating it, just think about it, mans roaming in the forest, lots of plants being eaten by animals, but theres this one plant, glowing with THC tricomes, untouched by all the animals, waiting for man to use it.... nature is perfect as i see it

Humans have also helped cannabis evolve, look at bud from 45 years ago compared to the bud today...

 

[Chronic777]

double!

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Um, yes i can

Your telling me that a plant couldn't be here as medicine for man, yet at the same time repell animals from eating it?
It makes perfect sense that such a great medicine would repell animals from eating it, just think about it, mans roaming in the forest, lots of plants being eaten by animals, but theres this one plant, glowing with THC tricomes, untouched by all the animals, waiting for man to use it.... nature is perfect as i see it

Humans have also helped cannabis evolve, look at bud from 45 years ago compared to the bud today...

Well I tend to take a bit more scientific approach to understanding the world around me.

My point assumes the evolutionary model of biology, not the "god put everything here and thats why we have THC" model.

EDIT: BTW, landrace Afghani/Thai/Nepalese/Columbian varieties from 45years ago were every bit as potent as the strains that we know and love today... do you think that in 45 years we have improved upon thousands of years of artificial selection on the part of people in the Hindu Kush valley regions of Afghanistan???

 

[Mr.Meds]

 

[Mr.Meds]

Sorry Fo.Co,
"You have given out too much Reputation in the last 24 hours, try again later."

 

[Chronic777]

Well I tend to take a bit more scientific approach to understanding the world around me.

Science is very useful, but i only see it as a tool to help us, not as a way for truly understanding things, i guess thats where we differ... for example i used to read stephen hawking to try & understand the universe, but you can't understand something that total through science, you can only provide useful things to use in life as science is a tool, its useful. I don't think one can truly understand the world or universe through science as it only ever deals with parts, not the whole.

Im not a bible basher who just throws everything in gods lap as an explanation, i meditate to clear my mind & just observe the world form there, rather than overly interpret it, observation is the purest form of science imo

On the evolution thing, im sure we had potent weed back then, but we didnt have super lemon haze or cheese lol

Anyway this is going way off topic!
I await the neg rep from the antispiritualists!

 

[rrog]

FoCo, we're all entitled to an opinion. I'm not coming from a background lacking in science.

 

[B. Friendly]

This is a good article on UVB and THC:

http://www.greenmanspage.com/guides/thc.html for pictures and article, pics are cool

An elaboration on the phytochemical process that makes marijuana THC​

The resin exuded by the glandular trichome forms a sphere that encases the head cells.

When the resin spheres are separated from the dried plant material by electrostatic attraction and placed on a microscope slide illuminated with a 100W incandescent bulb, they appear very dark when observed through a 300X microscope. Since orange, red, and infrared are the component wavelengths of incandescent light, and since the absorption of light makes an object dark or opaque to the frequency of the incoming wave, one can conclude that these wavelengths are probably not directly involved in energizing the cannabinoid pathway.

However, the resin sphere is transparent to ultraviolet radiation.

The author found through trial and error that only one glandular
trichome exhibits the phytochemical process that will produce the amount of THC associated with pain relief, appetite stimulation and anti-nausea; euphoria and hallucinations are side-effects, however. This trichome is triggered into growth by either of the two ways that the floral bract is turned into fruit.

Of all the ways that optics are involved in the phytochemical production of THC, the most interesting has to be how the head cells and cannabinoid molecules are tremendously magnified by the resin sphere. These and other facts are curiously absent from the literature. The footnotes update the literature to include electrostatic separation of the resin sphere from the dried plant material and marijuana parthenocarpy.


(1) "For all spheres, a ray drawn perpendicular to the sphere's surface will intersect the center of the sphere, no matter what spot on the surface is picked, and the magnifying power(a) of a glass sphere is greater the smaller its size. A sphere of glass can also bring light that is heading to a focus behind it to a point within it, with freedom from two aberrations, spherial aberration and coma, but not from chromatic aberration. Chromatic aberration results when different wavelengths are focused on different planes and is the most difficult of the aberrations to correct. The human eye lens also exhibits chromatic aberration, but a yellow pigment(b) called the macula lutea in the fovea, an area at the rear of the eyeball, corrects this problem by the way it absorbs blue light."

(a)"The formula to calculate the magnifying power of a sphere is l=333/d, where l is the magnifying power and d is the diameter of the sphere expressed in mm."

(b)Interestingly, the resin exuded by drug-type flowering female marijuana plants has a yellow tint. Could this pigment work to correct chromatic aberration in the resin sphere like the macula lutea does in the fovea for the eyeball?

(2) Quoting from the Mahlberg and Kim study of hemp(a) "THC accumulated in abundance in the secretory cavity where it was associated with the following: cell walls, surface feature of secretory vesicles, fibrillar material released from disc cell wall, and cuticle. It was not associated with the content of the secretory vesicles."

The resin spheres contain the THC. It is not contained in the leaf or floral bract. After the resin spheres are dissolved in solvent or dislodged by electrostatic attraction, and a microscopic examination of the leaf or floral bract has revealed that only the glandular trichomes' stalks remain, no effect will be felt after smoking the dried plant material from which the resin spheres have been removed.

(3) The electrostatic collection of the resin spheres from dried marijuana plants with plenty of ripe seeds has been for hundreds of years the method indigenous people of North Africa and Lebanon have used to make hashish. Obtain a round metal can 8" or so in diameter x 3" or so in depth (the kind that cookies come in) with a smooth lid. Obtain 2 ounces of dried marijuana with plenty of ripe seeds in the tops. To remove the seeds and stems, sift the marijuana tops through a 10-hole-to-the-inch wire kitchen strainer into the can. Close the can with the lid and vigorously shake the closed can three or four times. This gives the resin spheres an excess negative charge. Let the can sit for a moment and then remove the lid. Opposites attract. The negative-charged resin spheres have been attracted to the metal surface of the can and lid which has a positive charge. Take a matchbook cover or credit card and draw the edge across the surface of the lid. Note the collected powder. Observed under 300X magnification, the collected powder from this "shake" is composed of resin spheres with an occasional non-glandular trichome. As the marijuana is shaken again and again, and more of the yellow resin spheres are removed from the plant material, the collected powder gradually becomes green-colored as the number of non-glandular trichomes increases in the collected powder. The greener the powder, the less the effect.

(4) "Cannabinoids represent a dimer consisting of a terpene and a phenol component. Cannabigerol (CBG) is the first component of the pathway. It undergoes chemical change to form either cannabichromene (CBC), or cannabidiol (CBD). Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is derived from CBD."

(5) "Pate (1983) indicated that in areas of high ultraviolet radiation exposure, the UVB (280-320 nm) absorption properties of THC may have conferred an evolutionary advantage to Cannabis capable of greater production of this compound from biogenetic precursor CBD. The extent to which this production is also influenced by environmental UVB has also been experimentally determined by Lydon et al. (1987)."

The writer's own experience allow for a more specific conclusion: If the UVB photon is missing from the light stream(a), or the intensity as expressed in µW/cm2 falls below a certain level(b), the phytochemical process will not be completely energized with only UVA photons which are more penetrating but less energetic, and the harvested resin spheres will have mostly precursor compounds and not fully realized THC(c).

(a)Examples of an environment where the UVB photon would be missing from the light stream include all indoor cultivation illuminated by HID bulbs and in glass or corrugated fiberglass covered greenhouses.

(b)"The maximum UVB irradiance near the equator (solar elevation angle less than 25 deg.) under clear, sunny skies is about 250 µW/cm2. It was observed that the daily solar UVB in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (N24.4Lat.) decreased from September to December by about 40% (Hannan et al. 1984). The further a person is from the tropics, the less UVB radiation there is: the average annual exposure of a person living in Hawaii is approximately four times that of someone living in northern Europe." Below are some UVB readings taken in Hoyleton, Illinois, on a clear sunny day in June by David Krughoff as reported in Reptile Lighting 2000.

7am: 12 microwatts/cm2
8am: 74 microwatts/cm2
9am: 142 microwatts/cm2
10am: 192 microwatts/cm2
11am: 233 microwatts/cm2
12pm: 256 microwatts/cm2
1pm: 269 microwatts/cm2
2pm: 262 microwatts/cm2
3pm: 239 microwatts/cm2
4pm: 187 microwatts/cm2
5pm: 131 microwatts/cm2
6pm: 61 microwatts/cm2

(c)Cannabinoid pathway: Anywhere in this pathway UVB does a better job than UVA in energizing a phytochemical reaction that will produce more fully realized THC because "all cannabinolic compounds show an absorption maximum between 270 and 280 nm in the ultraviolet region."

(6) Capitate-stalked glandular trichome.

(7) #1: The ovum has been fertilized and there is a seed developing: In the areas of the Northern Hemisphere where indigenous people have grown heterozygous drug-type marijuana for hundreds of years, pollination is used to trigger the growth of the capitate-stalked glandular trichome on the floral bract and concomitant leaves of the flowering females before the autumnal equinox(a) so the majority of seeds will be ripe(b) before November.

(7) #2: The floral bract has become parthenocarpic: Parthenocarpic fruits develop without fertilization and have no seeds. Except for transmutation and turning lead into gold, there has been more nonsense written about seedless marijuana than on any other subject. In marijuana parthenocarpy, the floral bract (the fruit) enlarges in size as though there were a seed growing inside, and the capitate-stalked glandular trichome is triggered into growth on the floral bract and concomitant leaves. "Most popular supermarket tomatoes are parthenocarpic which was induced artificially by the application of dilute hormone sprays (such as auxins) to the flowers." In a trial, marijuana parthenocarpy was not induced by the application of the spray used on tomatoes. Only the photoperiod(c) will trigger parthenocarpy in flowering female marijuana plants. Marijuana parthenocarpy occurring before the autumnal equinox is considered by the author to be "long-day" and marijuana parthenocarpy occurring after the autumnal equinox to be "short-day".

The longest photoperiod that will trigger parthenocarpy in unfertilized flowering homozygous(d) Indica female marijuana plants is 13:00 hours, give or take 15 minutes. This effect can be obtained in the month of August at N35Lat, and because the capitate-stalked glandular trichomes received plenty of UVB during this month at this latitude, the harvested resin spheres had fully realized THC. Rating: euphoria and hallucinations, major appetite boost and pain relief, deep dreamless sleep. These plants seldom grow taller than four feet but potency makes up for the reduced harvest.

The gene pool is heterozygous if a flowering female marijuana plant is not parthenocarpic by the end of the first week in September in the Northern Hemisphere. If this is the case, pollination is used instead of parthenocarpy to trigger the growth of the capitate-stalked glandular trichome before the autumnal equinox to obtain as much fully realized THC as possible in the harvested resin spheres by the time the majority of the seeds are ripe.

The longest photoperiod that will trigger parthenocarpy in unfertilized flowering heterozygous female marijuana plants is 11:00 hours, give or take 15 minutes: This effect can be obtained in the month of November at N35Lat. Because of the low intensity of UVB radiation at this latitude at sea level during November, the harvested resin spheres evidenced only slightly more THC than precursor compounds. Rating: mild to medium euphoria, appetite boost and pain relief, good snooze.

Thai marijuana falls into this 11:00 hour category, and its parthenocarpy is characterized by an inflorescence in which many floral bracts are attached to an elongated meristem. It is these elongated meristems that are harvested to become a THAI STICK. On the other side of the world, Mexican marijuana grown around the same latitudes (Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca) also falls into this short-day parthenocarpic category and the unfertilized marijuana will become "sensimilla" in the 11:00 hour photoperiod which begins in mid-December in that region. The winter sunshine in those latitudes has enough UVB intensity to produce fully realized THC--unlike the winter sunshine at N35Lat.

All unfertilized flowering female marijuana plants will become parthenocarpic in a 9:00 hour photoperiod (15:00 hour dark period): This can be obtained in the month of December at N35Lat. At this latitude in this month there is not even enough UVB in sunlight for precursor vitamin D3 to develop in human skin. The phytochemical process will not produce fully realized THC when UVB falls below a certain level of intensity expressed in µW/cm2. Rating: no effect.

(a)In the Northern Hemisphere above the Tropic of Cancer, the key to all marijuana potency is this: The more days of sunlight the capitate-stalked glandular trichomes' resin spheres accumulate before the autumnal equinox the more fully realized THC.

(b)It is recognized in the indigenous world that drug-type marijuana with a majority of ripe seeds will produce more euphoria, hallucinations, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and sleep aid than with a majority of unripe seeds.

(c)The photoperiodic response is controlled by phytochrome. "Phytochrome is a blue pigment in the leaves and seeds of plants and is found in 2 forms. One form is a blue form(Pfr), which absorbs red light, and the other is a blue-green form(Pr) that absorbs far-red light. Solar energy has 10X more red (660nm) than far-red (730nm) light causing the accumulation of Pfr." The first and last hour of a day's sunlight is mostly red light because of the scattering effect on blue light. "So at the onset of the dark period much of the phytochrome is in the Pfr form. However, Pfr is unstable and returns to phytochrome Pr in the dark." The red light in sunrise returns the Pr to the Pfr form. "Phytochrome Pfr is the active form and controls flowering and germination. It inhibits flowering of short-day plants (the long night period is required for the conversion of Pfr to Pr) and promotes flowering of long day plants."

(d)In Nepal and nearby areas of India where the capitate-stalked glandular trichome is triggered into growth by parthenocarpy rather than by fertilized ovum, great care is taken to make sure that all male marijuana plants are destroyed as soon as they reveal their sex. This is because unfertilized Indica flowering females can have both stigma and anther protruding from the floral bract. In the Indica gene pool, female-produced pollen carries an allele for long-day parthenocarpy, and seeds resulting from this female-produced pollen will produce another generation of female plants that will also exhibit long-day parthenocarpy during flowering. But if pollen from male plants is introduced into this gene pool, the resulting seeds will produce a generation of females that will exhibit short-day parthenocarpy instead. The allele for long-day parthenocarpy in the female-produced pollen is carried into the gene pool by self-pollination and cross-pollination, and perhaps homozygous is used too loosely here to describe the genetic result.

(8) It appears that the resin sphere acts as an UVB receptor and magnifying lens. The latter apparently lets it gather in a lot more photons than would otherwise be possible; because a lens also acts as a prism, the resin sphere may prevent some wavelengths from being focused where the phytochemical processes are taking place because they could interfere with the phytochemical process that makes THC.

electrostatic collection of resin spheres and non-glandular trichome​

-------illuminated with 100 watt light bulb------- ---illuminated with sunlight--- ​

© 2002 jknuc rev. April 2004
Bibliography - marijuana-optics.greatnow.com/

Marijuana THC​

Wouldn't understanding this process lead to better harvests?

Could it be that it provides the plant with protection against ultraviolet radiation ?



UV Lighting T5 Aquarium Bulbs

http://www.eyesolarlux.com/solar-simulation-uv-lighting.htm

http://www.reptileuv.com/

Metal Halide UVB EB kits in research and soon to be released!

http://www.reptileuvinfo.com/html/mega-ray-narrow-flood-report.htm

~@~

So, does anyone know if it would benefit the final flowering stage by including these lights during the last few weeks ?

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

This is a good article on UVB and THC:

That has already been posted in this thread.

 

[Kdizzle]

I have always wondered this my self. Resin production is different then thc consentration. Plant can be very frosty but have a low thc potency and visa versa.

The plant continues to produce resin glands hopping to capture polin floating in the air. The plant produces more and more hoping to increaseits chances of getting polinated. As soon as it is polinated, it no longer produces resin glands and focuses on producing seeds

So that still leaves the op's original question... What is the perpose of the resin containing thc?

 

[rrog]

I don't think there's THC IN the resin. If I'm not mistaken (and I could be) the THC IS the resin.

THC and all the related Cannabinols and precursors = oily resin sitting in a Trichome.

How early in the flowering cycle can a female be pollinated? Pretty early, I'd imagine.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

The plant continues to produce resin glands hopping to capture polin floating in the air. The plant produces more and more hoping to increaseits chances of getting polinated.

The plant only gets pollinated if the pollen spore makes it to the female's pistil. Most of the resin glands are on the seed bract and surrounding areas and would not contribute to capturing pollen.

As soon as it is polinated, it no longer produces resin glands and focuses on producing seeds

This is absolutely not true. In fact, fertilization of the ovum causes resin development to accelerate. In Morocco cultivators dont bother to pull males and still make some of the finest hash in the world.

 

[rrog]

This is absolutely not true. In fact, fertilization of the ovum causes resin development to accelerate. In Morocco cultivators dont bother to pull males and still make some of the finest hash in the world.

That is a very interesting thing. So we'd be better off pollinating a week or two before they're ready to be pulled anyway?

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

I don't think there's THC IN the resin. If I'm not mistaken (and I could be) the THC IS the resin.

THC and all the related Cannabinols and precursors = oily resin sitting in a Trichome.

How early in the flowering cycle can a female be pollinated? Pretty early, I'd imagine.

You are mistaken. The trichome is the resin, THC is in the resin.

Any white hairs(pistils) on a plant can be pollinated. This includes preflowers during veg.