ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250049

Patlakhawa General Population 2025
ZOM-IND-WEB-0620250049
Typical landscape around Patlakhawa
At a Glance
Classification	Landrace
Accession Type	General population
Selection Type	N/A
Sex	Female
Chemotype	Unknown
Primary Purpose	Recreation, Medicine, Religion
Flowering Time	18–24 weeks
Plant Height	1.5–3 m
Photoperiod	Short-day
Botanical Characteristics
Growth Pattern	Christmas tree
Branching	Apical dominant
Leaf Shape	Narrow
Leaflets	9
Leaf Color	Light greens
Stem Color	Light greens
Stigma Color	Immature
Serration	Smooth
Flower Structure	Big, Fluffy, Foxtailed
Processing
Method	Ganja
Notes	Wrapped
Hierarchy
Gene Pool	South Asia
Regional Complex	Eastern Plains
Growing Region	The Dooars
Growing Area	Chilapata
Location
Country	India
Province/State	West Bengal
District	Alipurduar
Subdistrict	Alipurduar
Block	Alipurduar I
Locality	Patlakhawa
Coordinates	26.520407, 89.342575
Elevation	63 m
Aspect	N/A
Traditional Names
Local Name	গাঁজা
Pronunciation	Gãja
Translation	Ganja
Collection
Method	Seeds
Sourcing Type	Point of Origin
Autochthonous	Yes
Date	2025-06-28
Harvest Date	2025
Collector	Isabella,Éloïse
Farmer	Abir
Expedition	WEB01
Conservation
Priority	Medium
Legal Threats	Sporadic enforcement
Population Est.	100
M/F Ratio	0%
Culling	Yes
Introgression	Pure landrace
Cultivation
Status	Active
Scale	Widespread regional cultivation
Seed Sourcing	Seeds are grown on the farm
Planting Method	Direct seeding
Cycle 1 Planting	May–June
Cycle 1 Harvest	October–January
Cycle 2 Planting	October–November
Cycle 2 Harvest	April–May
Preservation
Seed Storage	Zomia Genetic Library
Seed Quantity	398
Viability	Viable

Patlakhawa General Population 2025 is a domesticate landrace cannabis accession collected by Éloïse of the Zomia Collective in West Bengal, India.

Geography

Patlakhawa is located in Alipurduar District, West Bengal, India, within the Chilapata landrace cannabis growing area of The Dooars growing region.

Administratively, the area belongs to Alipurduar I block in the Alipurduar sub-district of Alipurduar district, West Bengal state.

Collection Details

This accession was documented by Isabella & Éloïse in June 2025. A total of 398 seeds were given to Éloïse by a local cannabis grower alias 'Abir'.

The seeds come from an autochthonous, cultivated landrace cannabis population of 100+ plants grown by Abir near Patlakhawa village.

Unfortunately, Abir was not interested in showing his plants to the camera, however Isabella & Éloïse were able to observe several plants and photograph a very similar plant from a distance, on the edge of a rice paddy at the boundary of a property nearby.

Cultivation Details

Abir cultivates cannabis on a medium scale, within a larger context of widespread regional cultivation. His cultivation of cannabis is hidden and discrete, with his plants dissimulated within the margins of a garden away from his property, growing in a small field hidden away amongst the jute. Abir changes the exact site every few years, planting seeds directly into the ground in prepared plots. Beyond cannabis, the family grows diverse crops, including but not limited to local Bengali crops such as coconuts, jute, bananas, mustard, gourds and more.

Abir culls males and selects his plants for potency. Pollen comes from males found in nearby feral cannabis populations, which are common in this area. He only grows cannabis seeds that he himself has grown on his farm.

The plants are grown according to the monsoons, with two cycles of planting and harvesting per year. The first cycle starts with planting from May to June and harvest occurs between October and January. The second cycle planting takes place from October to November while the harvest starts in April and finishes in May.

Indoors, the plants are estimated to flower within 18-24 weeks.

Botanical Characteristics

Plants range in height from 1.5 to 3 meters.

In terms of morphology, the plants were exhibiting a natural apical dominance and growing in a classic 'christmas tree' pattern. The leaf shape is narrow, slender and long with up to 9 or more leaflets. Serration is average, shallow if anything.

The plants are light green in color, both stem and leaf. Stigmas were immature, though dried flowers later revealed brown hairs.

The dried flowers from this accession are processed as ganja with whole branches dried and cured before being wrapped in plastic and stored. The buds themselves are relatively big, fluffy and very foxtailed, despite the processing lightly compressing the flowers and giving them structure.

Flowering time ranges from 18 to 24 weeks.

Conservation Status

The accession is recorded at medium conservation priority. Sporadic enforcement, such as occasional eradication campaigns occur in this area.

Gallery

• 
  Patlakhawa landrace cannabis, photographed from a distance.
• 
  Patlakhawa landrace cannabis, heavily cropped photo.
• 
  Jute fields around Patlakhawa
• 
  Rice paddies enclosed by forest around Patlakhawa, West Bengal - India
• 
  Local man resting in the shade. Patlakhawa, West Bengal - India
• 
  Jute harvest and processing. Patlakhawa, West Bengal - India
• 
  Typical landscape around Patlakhawa, West Bengal - India

See Also

• The Dooars
• Chilapata