Landrace.Wiki:About
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Landrace.Wiki is a collaborative, open-access reference platform dedicated to documenting and conserving traditional cannabis landrace varieties worldwide. It serves as both a scientific database and a conservation advocacy tool, providing rigorous, field-verified documentation of landrace populations, their geographic origins, traditional cultivation practices, and the threats they face.
The project is operated by the Zomia Collective, an independent research and conservation organisation specialising in the documentation and preservation of traditional cannabis genetics. Landrace.Wiki is built on MediaWiki with Semantic MediaWiki, enabling structured data storage, advanced querying, and community contribution.
Why This Exists
Traditional cannabis landraces are disappearing at an accelerating rate — driven by prohibition enforcement, agricultural modernisation, genetic introgression, and generational knowledge loss. No comprehensive, publicly accessible, scientifically rigorous database of these varieties exists. Landrace.Wiki aims to fill that gap. For the full rationale behind this project, see our mission statement.
What We Document
Geographic Hierarchy
Landrace cannabis populations are organised using a seven-level geographic hierarchy, from broadest to most specific:
| Level | Name | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gene Pool | South Asia |
| 2 | Regional Complex (optional) | Hindu Kush–Himalayan |
| 3 | Growing Region | Western Himalayas |
| 4 | Growing Area | Parvati Valley |
| 5 | Appellation | Malana Valley |
| 6 | Field | Rasol 'Parla Thatch' Field |
| 7 | Accession | ZOM-2023-IN-HP-015 |
This hierarchy enables precise provenance tracking — every documented accession can be traced through its full geographic context, from the specific field where it was collected to the broader gene pool it belongs to. This precision is essential for meaningful conservation assessment and for distinguishing genuinely distinct populations from marketing labels.
Accessions
The fundamental unit of the database is the accession — a documented collection event from a specific location with full provenance data. Each accession records geographic coordinates, elevation, administrative boundaries, collection details, botanical descriptions, photographic documentation, cultural context, and conservation status.
Accessions are classified by documentation tier:
- Tier 1 — Full documentation with verified GPS, photographs, and botanical description
- Tier 2 — Basic documentation with location and collector information
- Tier 3 — Historical or referenced documentation without direct verification
This tiered system maintains transparency about what has been verified and what has not. We distinguish clearly between documented varieties (those we have directly verified through fieldwork) and known varieties (those referenced in literature or community knowledge but not yet independently confirmed).
Country Pages
Country pages provide comprehensive historical and legal context for cannabis in each nation, integrating primary source research — including colonial archives, ethnobotanical literature, diplomatic cables, and local media — to document how traditional cannabis cultures developed and how they have been affected by prohibition. These pages prioritise original research over secondary sources, and all claims are referenced.
Research Methodology
Landrace.Wiki prioritises primary source documentation:
- Field verification — Accessions are documented at the point of origin wherever possible, with GPS coordinates, elevation data, and photographic evidence collected on site.
- Archival research — Country pages and historical sections draw on colonial archives, academic ethnobotany, government records, and diplomatic documents, often in their original languages. Sources are cited with specific page numbers and URLs where available.
- Farmer knowledge — Traditional cultivation practices, local nomenclature, and selection criteria are recorded directly from the communities that maintain these varieties.
Field reports produced by the Zomia Collective and its partners serve as the primary published record of collection expeditions and are cited on the wiki as source literature, maintaining a clear separation between the wiki platform and the documentation it references.
For our principles on open access, farmer safety, documentation transparency, and source rigour, see our mission statement.
How to Use This Site
Landrace.Wiki serves three user levels:
- Casual browsers — Start with the main page to explore by region, or browse Current Events for the latest enforcement, policy, and research developments.
- Growers and practitioners — Accession pages include cultivation details, environmental context, and community-contributed grow reports. Browse by growing region or conservation status to find varieties of interest.
- Researchers — Country pages provide comprehensive, cited historical analysis. Accession data includes full provenance chains, and all semantic properties are queryable through the wiki's structured data system.
How to Contribute
Landrace.Wiki is a wiki — contributions from the community are essential to building a comprehensive resource. There are several ways to participate:
- Document an accession — Add new varieties to the database using our standardised templates
- Submit a grow report — Share your cultivation experiences with landrace varieties
- Submit a smoke report — Document the characteristics and effects of landrace varieties you have encountered
- Edit and improve existing pages — Correct errors, add references, expand sections
- Translate content — Add local language names, traditional nomenclature, and regional knowledge
- Report threats — Document eradication campaigns, habitat loss, or other risks to landrace populations
All contributions are subject to editorial review. See our contribution guidelines for standards and formatting requirements.
About the Zomia Collective
The Zomia Collective is an independent research and conservation organisation focused on the documentation, preservation, and study of traditional cannabis genetics. The collective conducts field research across South and Southeast Asia, maintaining partnerships with local farming communities, research institutions, and conservation organisations.
The name Zomia references the highland regions of mainland Southeast Asia — historically autonomous zones beyond the reach of centralised state control — reflecting the project's focus on traditional practices maintained outside formal institutional frameworks.
Landrace.Wiki is the Zomia Collective's primary public platform for sharing documentation and research. The wiki operates as a collaborative resource open to contributions from researchers, growers, and community members worldwide, while the Zomia Collective provides the core field documentation, editorial oversight, and technical infrastructure.
Contact
For questions, partnership enquiries, or to report issues with the site, contact the team through the Zomia Collective website.