Cannabis sativa is a widely dispersed plant that may be found in a broad range of habitats, elevations, and climatic conditions all over the globe. It is a member of the Cannabis genus. Historically, it has been used by humans for more than 5000 years, making it one of the oldest plant sources of food and textile fibres. Originating in Western Asia and Egypt, the cultivation of Cannabis sativa for textile fibre later spread to Europe, and in 1606, the cultivation of hemp was brought to North America, where it has remained since. For the majority of the 18th and 19th centuries, hemp had an important economic role in Europe, primarily in the manufacturing of ropes and textiles. Cannabis sativa L. (marijuana; Cannabaceae) is a popular plant with extensive distribution that produces fibre and food, as well as a psychoactive drug. Hemp seed has traditionally been harvested for the oil that can be derived from it and used in a variety of applications, including culinary and the production of soaps, paints, lubricants, and cosmetics. Furthermore, hemp has long been used as a medical plant.
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Cannabis sativa L. (C. sativa), popularly known as Indian hemp, is a herbaceous annual plant that has been grown since ancient times in Central Asia (India and China) (Russo et al., 2008). Cannabis sativa is perhaps the most well-known plant ever found by mankind, and it has a long history of complicated metabolic biology and interesting physiology (Zwenger, 2014). Cannabis sativa (often known as “Cannabis”) is an angiosperm in the Cannabaceae family. Cannabis sativa has been farmed for more than 5000 years for fibres and seed oil (Lash, 2010, Leizer et al., 2000), as well as medical (Clarke and Merlin, 2013; Zuardi, 2006) and recreational usage (Small, 2017). (Burstein, 1997 and Cota et. al., 2003). Cannabis fibres are one of its most commonly used products; in fact, for thousands of years, the plant was valued more for its fibre production than for any other application (Small, 2017). Cannabis fibres are extracted from the plant's stem and used to make fabrics, ropes, canvas, home furnishings, and industrial items (Montonya, 2016). Cannabis seeds are eaten, fed to animals, and used to make seed oil for food and cosmetics. Cannabis seeds have a high concentration of two essential fatty acids (EFAs), linolenic acid (omega-3) and linoleic acid (omega-6) (Callaway, 2004). Cannabis seeds are also high in all (important) amino acids, fibre, vitamins A, D, E, and C, thiamine, and riboflavin, as well as minerals including phosphorus, iron, potassium, and calcium (Leyva, 2011). Cannabis seeds and oil have remained popular in the food and cosmetics sectors of Asia, Europe, and America because to its high nutritional content (Lawrence, 2019).
Cannabis sativa extract has been used in Arabic-Islamic medicine for its numerous curative properties such as diuretic, anti-emetic, anti-epileptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, antipyretic, anti-bacteria, anti-tumor, vernucide and vermifuge, dermatic, carminative, and painkilling properties; the most commonly used part was seeds; and the common methods of preparation were seeds' oil and juice from the leaves (Lozano, 2001). Regardless, Cannabis leaves alone have the potential to cure over 25 different kinds of ailments (Kala et al., 2004), and other plant components including as seeds, flowers, and roots are also being employed.
Cannabis sativa is a wonder plant having about 500 chemical entities (Radwan et al., 2009), including over 100 phytocannabinoids and 120 terpenes (Calvi et al., 2018), of which fewer than 30 biosynthetic pathways have been identified (Booth and Bohlmann 2019). Small and Cronquist (Small and Cronquist, 1976) classified the hemp varieties wherein a concentration of 0.3% (dry weight) of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is proposed to be a chemical demarcation between marijuana and hemp. Plants with THC concentration of <0.3% are considered as hemp (ðber-type) while those containing THC of 30.3% are considered as marijuana (drugtype) (Small and Cronquist, 1976; Cascini et. al., 2019)
Cannabis is well recognised for its narcotic and medicinal properties. However, it has a wide range of additional uses. It is employed in a variety of sectors such as food, cosmetics, energy, and textiles (Schultes et. al., 2001; Lawrence, 2019; Chaffey, 2001; Callaway, 2004). Cannabis has also been studied for its possible application in bioremediation of polluted soils. Cannabis demonstrated high tolerance to heavy metals such as cadmium (Shi and Cai, 2009; Ahmad et al., 2015; Husain et al., 2019), copper, and nickel (Ahmad et al., 2015; Husain et al., 2019), as well as effective atrazine absorption from soil (Wang, 2021), making the plant an effective bioremediation agent for heavy metals. Hemp is also more environmentally friendly and generates higher quality paper than forest sources (Kamat et. al., 2002). Cannabis is also an excellent source of biofuels (Finnan et. al., 2013; Das et. al., 2017). As a result, hemp has been determined to be a superior alternative for fossil fuels than biodiesel and bioethanol derived from OSR and sugar beet, respectively (Finnan et. al., 2013).