Trichomes and Cannabinoids: Understanding Their Roles

The words “trichomes” and “cannabinoids” are tossed around a lot in the weed world, and they’re just as important when it comes to the sources of CBD and the production of CBD products.

In fact, CBD is one of those cannabinoids. Let’s start with quick definitions.

• Trichomes are tiny, glandular growths found on many types of plants, notably cannabis and hemp plants. They grow in clusters that often look like shiny crystals and cover the plants’ buds and leaves.
• Cannabinoids are natural plant compounds found in both cannabis and hemp. They’re essentially the “active ingredients” that deliver the plants’ effects and apparent benefits; psychoactive THC and non-intoxicating CBD are the two most important of the 100+ cannabinoids found in cannabis and hemp plants.

What’s the relationship between trichomes and cannabinoids? It’s simple: trichomes produce the cannabinoids, as well as the terpenes and flavonoids, that give the plants their unique properties. They have other functions as well, including protecting plants against predators and environmental threats.

But if they didn’t produce THC, CBD, other cannabinoids, and compounds like terpenes, hemp, and cannabis would simply be two of the 100,000+ flowering plants known to botanists, not the sources of sought-after products.

We shouldn’t downplay the roles of those other cannabinoids, including CBN, CBG, and CBC. They are each believed to deliver their own health and wellness benefits when consumed, and CBN may have slight psychoactive properties as well.

However, without THC, cannabis wouldn’t deliver the unique cerebral and physical effects that users seek when they want to get high. CBD products wouldn’t have become so popular for their apparent medical benefits if there wasn’t a bountiful amount of the cannabinoid in hemp plants.

And without the trichomes that grow on cannabis and hemp plants, neither THC nor CBD would be available to play those roles.

Let’s look deeper into the details.

The Functions of Cannabinoids

It might make sense to begin this discussion with trichomes since they’re the “factories” that produce cannabinoids. But THC and CBD are the compounds that users seek out for their apparent ability to provide health and wellness benefits and get people high — so let’s start there.

THC and CBD

Most people are familiar with psychoactive THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), and they’re rapidly becoming aware of non-intoxicating CBD (cannabidiol) because of the many CBD products hitting the market.

These ”big two” cannabinoids are each found in cannabis and hemp plants but in differing amounts. Cannabis has high levels of THC and usually contains just small amounts of CBD; by contrast, there’s lots of cannabidiol and very small amounts of THC in hemp.

That explains why marijuana is harvested from cannabis, while CBD products are created with the cannabidiol extracted from hemp. The bountiful THC content in cannabis delivers the well-known effects of weed; the CBD taken from hemp can provide its apparent medical benefits without impairing users’ thinking or activities.

CBD products have become so popular because of research detailing those potential benefits. Cannabidiol may, among other things, help ease anxiety, stress, depression, and more serious mental health issues; ease the chronic pain of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders; help the body fight neurodegenerative diseases and heart health risks, and possibly help battle cancer.

THC has also been shown to help battle a wide range of medical issues and conditions including glaucoma, severe and chronic pain, epilepsy, the serious side effects of chemotherapy, gut diseases, migraines, PTSD and other mental health disorders, and even ALS and HIV/AIDS.

THC, in the form of medical marijuana, has been legalised in the UK and many US states and other nations, although it must be prescribed and isn’t available for all health conditions. CBD products are legal in most Western nations but aren’t prescribed for any patients except a small number suffering from rare types of childhood epilepsy.

Other Cannabinoids

As mentioned earlier, more than 100 cannabinoids are found in hemp and cannabis. Some are little-understood, but several other than THC and CBD appear to play important roles.

• CBG (cannabigerol): This compound is known as the “mother of all cannabinoids,” because the others are derived from the acidic form of CBG, CBGA. CBG is non-intoxicating and may provide benefits for those suffering from chronic pain, anxiety and depression, glaucoma, Huntington’s disease, infections, and inflammatory diseases.
• CBN (cannabinol): CBN is produced when THC begins to break down in mature plants and is exposed to heat and light (through a process called decarboxylation, which is used manually by those who make cannabis edibles). CBN can be mildly psychoactive, and it’s often called the “sleepy cannabinoid” because animal research has shown it to have sedative effects.
• CBC (cannabichromene): Non-intoxicating CBC is the third-most common cannabinoid in hemp and cannabis, but its apparent benefits aren’t well-understood and seem to be slightly less impressive than those of CBG or CBN. It may enhance mood and provide neuroprotection, and could may deliver health and wellness benefits similar to those of other cannabinoids.

Perhaps the most important function of these so-called “minor” cannabinoids is the support role they all play. They all work together, in conjunction with other plant compounds, to maximize the performance of the THC in marijuana and the cannabidiol in CBD products. That combined boost is known as an “entourage effect.”

How THC and CBD Work in the Body

One of the most important systems in the body was only discovered in 1988. The endocannabinoid system (ECS) governs a large number of the body’s crucial functions, including brain operation and memory, sleep, pain, appetite, immunity, and inflammation.

The ECS is comprised of receptors, which send and receive control messages, and neurotransmitters which serve as chemical messengers as they shuttle between receptors. Those neurotransmitters are produced by the body and are known as endocannabinoids.

If “endocannabinoids” reminds you of the “cannabinoids” we’ve discussed, they should. The two are very similar in their chemical structures, which allows cannabinoids like THC and CBD to interact with the ECS receptors once they’re inside the body. Their interactions with the body’s control system are how cannabinoids provide their psychoactive and/or medical effects.

There’s a big difference between THC and CBD’s activities inside the body, though.

There are two types of receptors in the ECS. CB1 receptors are located mostly in the brain and nervous system and control functions like thinking, memory, pain, and sleep. THC binds to CB1 receptors to deliver its effects; that explains why the psychoactive cannabinoid is able to affect cannabis users’ thoughts, alter their perceptions, and make them clumsy, sleepy, or hungry.

CB2 receptors are found throughout other areas of the body and govern functions like immunity and inflammation. CBD interacts primarily with CB2 receptors, so it can’t directly affect the body’s functions in the ways that make people high. Instead, people receive cannabidiol’s apparent benefits without being impaired in any way.

Now that we’ve taken a deep dive into the subject of cannabinoids, let’s switch our attention to where they come from.

All About Trichomes

Trichomes produce the cannabinoids that make hemp and cannabis so valuable. Many marijuana users focus on the physical attributes of trichomes, though, because the number and characteristics of their trichome glands play a major role in weed’s quality and potency. Sparkling and sticky trichomes are often considered a sign of the finest cannabis.

Types of Trichomes

Both high-quality cannabis and hemp plants have trichomes covering the flowers, leaves, and even stalks of mature plants. There are three types of glandular trichomes:

• Bulbous trichomes are microscopic in size and look something like misshapen mushrooms. They don’t produce large amounts of cannabinoids, but they work to protect the plants against pests and diseases.
• Capitate-sessile trichomes are globe-shaped and also too small to be seen by the naked eye. They’re mostly found on the plants’ stems and the undersides of their leaves. They do produce THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, but not to the level of the third type of trichomes.
• Capitate-stalked trichomes are what most people refer to as “trichomes,” because they’re easily visible and they’re valued for their bountiful production of cannabinoids. The glandular growths look like hairs or antennae with small globes at their ends, and they’re also called “resin glands” or simply “resin” because they become sticky once they’ve produced large amounts of cannabinoids. They coat the leaves and flowers (buds) of mature cannabis and hemp plants.

The plants also grow small, hair-like, non-glandular trichomes, which don’t produce cannabinoids but are vital for protection against insects, diseases, and the sun’s UV rays.

The Importance of Trichomes

We’ve already highlighted the major reason trichomes are important to consumers: they produce the cannabinoids for which cannabis and hemp plants are grown. They also produce the terpenes and flavonoids that determine the buds’ appearance, flavor, and aroma.

The capitate-stalked trichomes (which we’ll simply call trichomes from this point forward) are watched carefully by growers because they signal when cannabis and hemp plants are ready for harvest. During flowering, they ideally become a thick blanket that’s first clear, then white, and finally amber. Once the plants are past their prime, the trichomes turn brown or black.

Cultivators aren’t unanimous on the right time to harvest plants. Hemp growers often pay attention to other signs like the number of days after planting, or maturity of the plants’ external seeds, but others start testing the plants’ CBD content when most of the trichomes are milky-white.

Cannabis growers usually harvest their plants when 10-30% of the trichomes are amber and the rest are milky-white because that indicates peak production of THC. Some prefer to wait until 80% of the trichomes are amber, saying weed at that stage produces a calmer, mellower high.

Using Trichomes

When hemp is harvested for CBD extraction the trichomes are attached to the flowers and leaves, so cannabidiol (and other plant compounds, including hemp’s small amount of THC) can be extracted directly from those parts of the plants. The extracted CBD is used to manufacture CBD products.

It can be a similar story for cannabis harvested for use as marijuana; the trichomes and the THC they contain are smoked or used to produce edibles like edibles along with the buds. The same is true for the leaves and stems if users want to utilize those less-potent parts of the plant.

Some people, though, use cannabis trichomes in other ways.

Since the resinous glands contain the vast majority of the plant’s trichomes, home growers and users often separate trichomes from the rest of the plant material. That provides greater potency and more versatility in creating marijuana products like concentrates and hash.

Methods for extracting trichomes range from dry sifting (shaking buds over a screen to let the trichomes fall through) and ice water extraction (freezing the plant material to make the trichomes easier to collect), to solvent extraction (using special equipment and solvents like carbon dioxide to chemically separate trichomes from the plant material).

Summary

Hemp and cannabis trichomes and cannabinoids are inextricably linked. Without the plants’ trichomes, users wouldn’t be able to enjoy the recreational benefits of marijuana or the apparent medical benefits of both plants. However, if the trichomes didn’t produce THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, there would be no reason to even worry about their existence.

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