What exactly does the chemical THC do for the marajuna plant? Sure its all good for us humans but the plant has to make it for some reason.
I spelled marijuana wrong sorry.
As to why the plant originally produced THC, I could only guess. Different plants produce lots of different chemicals; intoxicating, poisonous or bad tasting. Probably part of their defense mechanism against disease or predators.
As to why marijuana plants now produce huge amounts of THC (in some strains, to the point where the leaves are frosted with crystals of it), what they “get out of it” is that humans will raise them with tender loving care, and guarantee that they’ll reproduce.
It’s a defense against insects. It screws up their nervous systems. A stoned bug can’t evade a bird vey well.
Well, I seem to be avoiding the birds pretty well. Now if I could just shake these bats…
It has certainly helped the species propagate with a little help from humans. Plants create all sorts of weird chemicals, some of which are beneficial, and others which aren’t.
Somehow I don’t think the THC serves as a defense mechanism for a couple of reasons. First of all marijuana in the wild produces a very small amount of THC. If it was a defense mechanism I would expect the THC level to be higher because it would be present in all parts of the plant. Secondly an insects make-up (physiology? not spelled right) is much different from humans so I don’t think THC would effect them in the same way. Especially since insects have hemolymph instead of hemoglobin like us. So I don’t know if THC could bind to hemolymph in the same way as it does to hemoglobin. I’m inclined to think that THC serves as some sort of hormone or ligand or some sort. But I dunno its just a guess.
I checked out a few web sites, and some of them mentioned that THC was repellant to insects. (I won’t link to 'em because some are questionable with regard to, let us say, illegal activities. Do a search on THC and insects.) THC wouldn’t have to be at a very high level to be repellant to insects. And there is more in the seeds because these are more “valuable” to the plant in terms of propagating itself and they need to be better protected.
While the human and insect nervous systems are different, they are similar enough so that a compound like THC may act in similar ways in both.
I’m not guessing; my answer is based on what I know about plants, secondary compounds, THC, and human and insect nervous systems. But I haven’t found a definitive statement on it yet.
No, no, no. You guys have it all wrong. It is a defense mechanism against grazing and browsing animals. Usually grazers continue to eat a new food source plant until it is nearly exhausted. Bad news for the plant.
But with Cannabis, the cows eat for a while, and then they’re all, like, “Whoa! You know what would be GREAT? Those little crunchy buds on the lily plants! I dig those.” Off the stoned cows go, to the river bank, and the cannabis plant grows on.
Trisk, I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Let’s just say that a certain doper (smoker or poster, you decide) has very firsthand knowledge of deer eating large amounts of growing herbalicious.
and they came back for more. fucking deer.
jb
I knew a guy who had managed to grow a couple of small plants, and had them temporarily stashed in his closet. To make a long story short, his cat got into the closet when he wasn’t home, and proceeded to [sad voice] eat every single bud [/sad voice]. Then she laid (sp?) in a near coma for three days. While the THC may not have been good for her, and she’s not a grazing animal, it obviously wasn’t a deterrent, either.
Yeah I don’t see how it could be a defense mechanism against grazing animals. I mean one the animal ate the plant and then felt happy don’t you think, just like most humans, they would come back for more?
One thing to remember is that the plant doesn’t neccesarily have to STOP grazing, just discourage it. Sure, a grazer could munch a bunch of cannabis. But the concentrations of THC would start to build up, eventually reaching problematic levels. Herbivores can starve to death with full stomachs if they aren’t getting enough QUALITY food. You don’t have to be deadly toxic…just enough to make the herbivore snack on the next plant over most of the time.
Another thing about the plants is there extremly sticky, like someone said before the highest concentration of the resin glands is on the seed pods, and ive seen it many times where theres small insects attached to the flowers, like a fly trap. I knew a cat that loved to nibble on the lower leaves of the plants, the only problem with that is the cat would dig around in the soil and kill the plants.
Im pretty sure the THC and other cannabinoids in the plant are for defence, but like someone said before that doesnt seem to deture deer, rabbits, mice. But animals eating the flowers and injesting the seeds to further spread the species around in there droppings would also be a major benifit. The majority of the cannabinoids are found on the female plants also, so Im pretty sure it has to do with the protection of the valuable seeds. The glands are at there highest concentration during the time when the female plants are making seeds and allowing the seeds to mature on the plant.
But the glands are also pretty smelly, so this could help in the fertilization process, or could attract benificial insects, and animals to help pollinate the plants by brushing up against them and spreading the male pollin.
Just my 2¢
Uh, guys?
I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I was kidding.
50 had it almost right I think. But why think of THC as a deterrent? You could ask why oranges are so sweet and flowers smell so good? Eat the flowers of the Plant and you want to eat more (munchies anyone?) hopefully eating a few seeds for later distribution :).
Here’s a great link:
http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha03201.html
It talks about THC’s effects on insect predation.
The article mentions that a lot of marijuana-eating insects have piercing-sucking mouthparts, which probably allows them to bypass the insecticidal surfaces of the plants for the juicy interiors.
THC is one of tons of chemicals in marijuana. If I may speculate, I’d say that THC is only one of many cannabinoids, and that the other have similar effects on insects, while they may have no getting-baked effect on humans. In other words, THC is simply one ingredient in a pesticidal cocktail; pot-growers choose to grow the high-THC stuff but the low-THC stuff is probably full of chemically-similar insecticides.
In point of fact, most naturally-ocurring recreational drugs are in a single class of chemical: the alkaloids. And most of these are naturally-evolved insecticides. These include nicotine, caffeine, mescaline, cocaine, and the opiates. If I remember correctly, these are quite deadly to the acetylcholine channels in insect nervous systems; vertebrate nervous systems are similar enough that the drugs affect our nerves as well, but different enough that the effects are completely different. Morphine messes with your nerves in a way which pleases humans and causes insects to go into terminal seizures.
Anyway, I highly recommend the above link.
Man, this thread was going so nicely until SOMEBODY had to come along and kill it. Thanks a lot Boris.
13 years later, and still interesting…