Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the scientific name for a cannabinoid secreted by the hemp plant, and cannot be used to “get high.” CBD can treat various medical conditions from pain relief to insomnia, but what actually makes up the plant itself? Let’s look at the anatomy of high quality CBD buds. Right, let’s get started!
CBD buds are located within CBD flowers, and following cultivation season, the flowers are trimmed down until only the CBD buds remain. Quality CBD buds can be used for tinctures, compresses, or vaping, or put in tea, food, or a soothing bath. The anatomy of CBD flowers and buds is detailed below.
What is a CBD Flower?
CBD flowers are manually harvested from female hemp plants. CBD flowers are large and secrete resin. Hemp plants are traditionally tall (up to 5 meters) and branchy, and less bushy than their marijuana relatives — although hemp plants produced for CBD are a bit shorter and have more branches than industrial hemp plants used for fiber.
CBD flowers extend from the ends of long branches and look different than their male counterparts. CBD flowers are bushy, thick, and contain the cola, pistils, and bract/calyx. Female CBD flowers grow in clusters on secondary branches, and consist of a single green leaf calyx (the leaves surrounding the budding flower), and pistils. On a hemp or marijuana plant, you will see the recognizable leaves.
What is a CBD Bud?
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A CBD or hemp plant bud is different from a marijuana plant because it doesn’t contain enough THC to produce psychoactive effects. Buds may grow all along a hemp branch, and include the cola or apical bud, pistils, bract/calyx, and trichomes. The colas are at the ends of the branches, and contain the largest CBD buds. Gardeners can use different methods to make buds grow larger or more often.
The calyx is the actual bud — not the cola. The calyxes, or CBD buds, contain the highest tricome concentration, and thus the highest amount of CBD. Female pistils look like white hairs poking out from the each calyx, and may turn red, orange, or brown. Pistils capture pollen from male plants, but do not contain many trichomes. Trichomes are barely visible with the naked eye, and are the “crystals” people refer to on cannabis or hemp plants. Trichomes are translucent, mushroom-shaped glands that appear on the leaves, stems, and calyxes of CBD buds, and product the CBD itself.
There you have it! If you want create CBD oil, the first step is growing female hemp plants with CBD flowers and buds, and making sure they are pollinated by a male hemp plant. If you’d like to leave it to the experts, you certainly can — but now you know a bit more about where CBD comes from and how it’s made. Nature creates CBD oil, and it’s up to us to harness its healing power in any way we can.
[Image credit: Pixabay]
