10 Plants That Look Like Marijuana Cannabis Plants

Some plants may be mistaken for marijuana. They share some features. For instance, Chaste Tree and Japanese Maple have palmate leaves. The edges have a serrated appearance like those of marijuana. Chaste Tree leaves are smooth-edged and have lavender flowers. Japanese Maples are bright red.

Coral Plant— It boasts vibrant flowers of a red hue and leaves with deep incisions. It looks nothing like marijuana. Cassava and Sunn Hemp grow like marijuana but have different flowers. These similarities need a deeper understanding. They should reveal what makes each plant special and useful.

Similarities of Chaste Tree

The Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-castus) can grow to 15 feet. Its young leaves, with 5 to 7 narrow leaflets, look like marijuana's. But, it's much taller than most marijuana plants.

Despite the similar look, these features should tell the chaste tree apart:

1. The chaste tree has entire-margined leaflets. This is critical. The cannabis plant has serrated leaves.
2. Floral Characteristics: Chaste trees produce noticeable stalks that hold lavender-colored flowers. This is a clear visual difference. Cannabis flowers are less flashy and showy in color.
3. Height of Plant: Chaste trees are much taller than the cannabis plants and can grow up to 15 feet high. This difference in height becomes clearer when the plants are mature.
4. People use chaste trees for medical purposes to reduce sex drive. This use is quite different from the mind-altering effects of cannabis.

These characteristics ensure that you do not mistake a chaste tree for a cannabis plant.

Hibiscus Varieties Confusion

When you study hibiscus, you'll find varieties like Texas Star and Scarlet Rosemallow. Their leaves share a likeness with cannabis in shape. They are smoother and have a different texture.

Hibiscus has flamboyant, showy flowers. They are its main feature. They set it apart from cannabis, which has less showy, clustered flowers.

The hibiscus is 7-8 feet tall. Its leaves droop, unlike the erect, fan-like cannabis leaves.

Japanese Maple Misidentification

Many gardeners have misidentified the Japanese maple as cannabis. Its lobed leaves have 5 to 7 narrow leaflets, like cannabis. This is where the similarity ends.

Japanese maple trees and cannabis plants share leaf shapes. But they differ in important ways upon closer scrutiny. First, the leaflets are much broader at the base of the Japanese maple. They connect to a thick, woodier stem. This contrasts with the rather thin stems of cannabis. This structure plays a crucial role in accurate identification.

Also, cannabis leaves have jagged edges. Japanese maple leaves are less serrated.

Another difference is in the color change of Japanese maple leaves. They turn bright red in autumn. Cannabis does not change color during the course of its growth.

Now, it's the turn of the Japanese maple tree. It can grow to 10 meters, a giant height compared to the cannabis plants, which are usually under 3 meters.

Coral Plant and Cassava

The Coral Plant has palmate leaves with 5 to 11 lobes. The lobes extend outward, forming a shape like that of cannabis.

Coral Plant is as weedy as Cannabis. But it has red flowers that bunch at the tips of its stalks. They're quite recognizable.

Now, cassava is a plant with a different leaf type: seven leaflets from a central point, a clearer white vein. It boasts tubers rich in carbohydrates, staples in tropical diets everywhere.

Look-alike to Spider Plant

The plant known as the Spider Plant is Chlorophytum comosum. Its leaf shape makes most think it resembles the controversial cannabis plant. You may do a double take at its long leaves. They look like those of the plants that contain cannabinoids.

On closer inspection, you will notice some features that set it apart from the removed plants.

1. Spider Plant leaves dominate with green hues. They have a sharp, creamy-white center stripe running down them. Cannabis boasts a consistent, vibrant green hue.
2. Leaf Margins: A spider plant's leaves have smooth, even edges. They clash with the notched, toothed edges of cannabis leaves.
3. Flowering Structure: Spider plants form small, clustered white flowers from the center. Cannabis organizes blooms in a unique pattern. Most are more colorful and resinous.
4. Growth Habit: These plants grow in a rosette pattern, expanding outward in a circle. Cannabis grows upward, producing many stems that branch out.

Scarlet Hibiscus Resemblance

The Scarlet Hibiscus has deeply lobed leaves. At first glance, they resemble cannabis.

A closer look will show you that its leaflets are broader. Their texture is quite different.

When growing Scarlet Hibiscus, note that it prefers moist, well-drained soil. It can grow up to 7.9 feet, much taller than most cannabis plants.

Scarlet Hibiscus Features:

The Scarlet Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) often draws attention. Leaves feature lobes with a strong resemblance to cannabis leaves. Still, it has some very distinct characteristics that set it apart. 

Read more about what distinguishes this plant:

1. Leaf Structure: The Scarlet Hibiscus usually has five leaflets. That's fewer than cannabis, which has seven to nine. Both plants have palmate leaves. In the Scarlet Hibiscus, the leaflets merge at one point, giving them a hand shape.
2. Cannabis leaves have serrated edges. But, the margins of Scarlet Hibiscus leaflets are smooth. This difference is key to identification. It shows how diverse plant adaptations can be.
3. Plant Height: The Scarlet Hibiscus is 5-7 feet tall. It's usually taller than most cannabis varieties. Its height, coupled with the strong stalk, enables it to flourish in the wetlands of the Southeastern U.S.
4. Display with Flowers: Its most stunning aspect may be its large, red flowers. They bloom in full glory during the summer. So, they are much more noticeable than the small flowers of cannabis. This makes it easy to tell the two apart.

Knowing these things will show that the Scarlet Hibiscus is different from cannabis. It is a distinct plant.

Sunn Hemp Confusion

Crotalaria juncea, or sunn hemp, resembles marijuana due to its narrow, elongated leaflets. They are almost like those of cannabis. But this tropical legume does not hide its identity. It has bright yellow flowers in clusters, unlike cannabis's light green ones.

Sunn hemp is 3 to 5 feet tall. It is used mainly as a cover crop for improving soil and preventing erosion.

The sunn hemp leaves differ from those of cannabis. They lack serrated edges and have a strong, prominent midrib. They are also propagated under the same conditions as the others. But they are mostly limited to the tropics and subtropics. This shows a narrower habitat preference than the industrial hemp plant. It is more widely cultivated.

These differences are key for identifying plants. They also help us understand sunn hemp's unique botanical and ecological roles. Seeing patterns in their foliage, flowers, and uses will reduce mistakes. It will also boost appreciation for the world's plant diversity.

Cannabis Kenaf Similar Appearance

Like cannabis, kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) is a tall crop in the Malvaceae family. It can reach 3.5 meters in height and has a similar leaf structure. Its appearance is so like industrial hemp that you might mistake it for it. Here's why:

1. Leaf Structure: Kenaf leaves are palmately lobed with 5 to 7 leaflets. These leaflets look like Cannabis. But, they are wider and have smoother edges. This often leads to misidentification when the plants are viewed from a distance.
2. Much like cannabis, especially industrial hemp, kenaf can grow very tall and sturdy. As they look alike when heightened, this causes confusion over kenaf.
3. Differences in Flowers: While kenaf produces bright, colored, poppy-like flowers, cannabis does not. Thus, a distinctive mark of identification, if in fact the flowers are in bloom, is present.
4. Kenaf is mainly grown for its fibers. They are used in many industrial processes. As we know, cannabis is mainly cultivated for its psychoactive properties. In such cases, it is not readily seen from the mere physical appearance of the plant.

With this knowledge, we can now identify kenaf. We must consider some unique traits of the Malvaceae family.

Japanese Hop and Cannabis

Explore Humulus japonicus, a species closely linked to cannabis botany studies.

At first, you might confuse its large, lobed leaves with cannabis. They have a serrated edge. But a closer look will show that the leaves of the Japanese hop are more rounded. They can have up to seven lobes. This distinguishes them from cannabis's leaflets, which have narrower definitions.

This is a fast-growing climbing vine. It wraps around supports, ascending up to 10 meters in full stretch.

This growth is often vigorous. It can sometimes match the upward growth of some cannabis plants, which adds to the confusion. Its small, fragrant flowers have trichomes like those on cannabis. This further fools the naked eye.

But despite these similarities, the uses of Japanese hops are quite different.

• It is not grown for any psychoactive effects. Its fibrous stems have many uses in traditional brewing and as ornamental features.
• It is an important distinction. It reinforces the need for proper plant identification.

Conclusion

You've done some research on a few plants. Their leaf shape and growth may confuse people with cannabis. The Japanese maple features leaves with serrated edges. The kenaf has bunches of foliage. These plants have unique features that identify them. They differ from the classic look of growing marijuana.

These botanical subtleties will boost your plant knowledge. They will also prevent misidentification. Always check the leaf arrangement, flower structure, and growth conditions. They are key to telling these species apart from the cannabis plant.