Hemp Kava Blend

Hemp is a dioecious herbaceous annual that typically grows 4 to 9 feet tall and is entirely covered in fine hairs.¹ It has an angular, erect stem that is branching.² From the stem, its digitate leaves can be either opposite or alternately positioned on long petioles with five to seven lanceolate serrated leaflets.^1,2 The axillary female inflorescences stand upright in either a raceme or spike structure.^1,2 The male flowers have five stamens with long anthers and the female flowers have two pistils with long stigmas.² The flowers are leafy at the base with brown glands covering the sepals.¹ The whitish to grayish glossy fruits are somewhat flattened and ovate-shaped that contain one seed.^1,2 Its seed coat is brown to olive-grey, while the inner part is green and oily with a slight scent.¹

Kava is a perennial woody and evergreen shrub with vines that can grow up to approximately 10 feet (3 meters) in height.³ Its leaves are heart-shaped, tapering and large.^3,7 The plant has yellow female and male flowers on different plants (dioecious) that are inconspicuous in oblong clusters.^3,4 Female plants are rare and do not produce viable seed. The rhizome (rootstock) cortex is tan or pale greyish-brown in color, with white to yellow flesh.^3,5,8 The rootstock bears lateral roots that reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) of root depth and less than an inch (2.5 cm) in thickness.^4,5

This perennial is a short, erect shrub that grows up to 5 feet (1.5 m).^3,4 Its leaves are oval shaped, simple, and covered in velvety hairs along the leaves and stems.^4,6 Its grouped cyme flowers are green to white to vivid yellow and radially symmetric.^3,4,5 The herb’s round berry is orange to red in color.⁴ The plant’s sepals create a membranaceous brown sheath that encloses the berry.^4,5 The seeds of the berry are kidney-shaped and yellow.⁶ Its root is a fleshy main taproot that is white to somewhat yellow-brown in color.^2,4,5

Holy Basil is a fast-growing upright temperate annual or short-lived tropical perennial herb or shrub that can grow up to approximately 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) by 0.5 meter (1 ft 8 in).^2,3,4,6 The slender clusters of flowers are small and purple-red or white in color and have rounded upper lip lobes and obtuse to rounded lower lip lobes.^2,3 Its stems are square, hairy and well-branched.^3,4,5 The simple, opposite leaves are ovately-shaped, slightly toothed and hairy. ^3,4,5 They can be purple, green or green-brown in color.⁴