Scientists evaluate the suitability of hemp as an ornamental plant

By now, most of us are familiar with some of the most popular and historic uses for the cannabis plant. We know about the psychoactive effects of some of the chemicals produced by the plant and we know about the use of plant fibers to make any number of useful products like rope, textiles and even composite building materials.

One use that many have perhaps never considered for hemp is as an ornamental houseplant. To some, this may sound as silly as planting potted corn in your indoor living space but a new paper published in Plants claims that pot is actually surprisingly well positioned to become the next iconic houseplant. Beyond the living room, the team claims that hemp is even more suitable in a decorative landscape.

In order to quantify these claims, the study authors first evaluated C. sativa across a broad series of metrics including frost hardiness, shade tolerance, environmental tolerance, salt tolerance, leaf color, plant symmetry, altitudinal range and more. They then summed the resulting scores and divided that number by the sum of the maximum possible scores. Then they multiplied that result by 100 to arrive at a point score. Using this technique they calculated that hemp has a score of 78.33 in ornamental potential as compared to a standard score of 67.5.

After arriving at the ornamental potential score the authors used a similar technique to derive another score they call Sustainable Exploitation Feasibility. They concluded that hemp has a sustainable exploitation feasibility score of 80.56, a fairly impressive sounding number.

Finally, the study authors conclude that when evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to exploiting hemp as an ornamental plant the legal status of the plant is the hurdle that overshadows all others internationally.

So for now, it seems, we probably won’t be seeing ornament potted pot at the local home improvement store.

You can read the original paper here

Tell us what you think in the comments below.

1. Hesami, M.; Pepe, M.; Baiton, A.; Salami, S.A.; Jones, A.M.P. New Insight into Ornamental Applications of Cannabis: Perspectives and Challenges. Plants 2022, 11, 2383. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11182383