Heirloom

Heirloom in cannabis usage denotes landrace-derived cultivars transplanted from their region of origin (typically pre-1980s) to a new environment — most often Hawaii, California, or the Pacific Northwest — and maintained with minimal hybridization, preserving near-original landrace genetics. Examples include "Maui Wowie," "Panama Red," and some "Haze" progenitors. The term comes from Middle English heir + loom ("tool, implement"), denoting an heritable object; it was borrowed into horticulture (cf. heirloom tomatoes) to indicate open-pollinated, pre-industrial, grower-preserved varieties (Clarke & Merlin 2013). Heirloom cannabis is distinguished from strict landraces (which remain in their region of origin) and from modern polyhybrids. Genetic evidence shows many "heirloom" lines have been partially introgressed with later germplasm (Sawler et al. 2015; Schwabe & McGlaughlin 2019). → See also: Landrace, Cultivar, IBL.