Scientists have discovered cannabidiol, a compound in cannabis known as CBD, in a common Brazilian plant, opening potential new avenues to produce the increasingly popular substance.
The team found CBD in the fruits and flowers of a plant known as Trema micrantha blume, a shrub which grows across much of the South American country and is often considered a weed, molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro told AFP in 2023.
We’ve been cultivating weed for generations to increase the potency. It’ll take time for this other plant to catch up, but not long.
Cannabis is ideal because of those tasty trichomes which are essentially balls of THC goo on the outside of the plant. The plant is basically a resin factory anyway, which makes extraction relatively easy. Potency is one aspect, but availability may take a bit more to work on.