Hemp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about industrial hemp. For its psychoactive variant, see Cannabis (drug). For the biology of the plant, see Cannabis. For other uses, see Hemp (disambiguation).
The variety of appearances for cannabis. Only Sativa (left) is suited for industrial hemp, but it also has medicinal varieties.
Má, the Mandarin word for hemp. In China, the use of hemp has been shown to go back at least 10,000 years.
Hemp (from Old English hænep) is the name of the soft, durable fiber that is cultivated from plants of the Cannabis genus, cultivated only for industrial (non-drug) use.
In modern times, industrial hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food, and fuel,[1] with modest commercial success.[2][3] In the past three years, commercial success of hemp food products has grown considerably.[4][5]
Hemp is one of the fastest growing biomasses known,[6] producing up to 25 tonnes of dry matter per hectare per year,[7] and one of the earliest domesticated plants known.[8] For a crop, hemp is relatively environmentally friendly as it requires few pesticides[9] and no herbicides.[10]