Is Purple Haze indica or sativa? Its genetics and family tree

The two parents in most listings

On Leafly, Purple Thai is a mostly sativa strain; its description says it crosses Highland Oaxacan Gold with Chocolate Thai and calls it Oregon Purple Thai, and Leafly lists Purple Haze and Sweet Tart as its children.⁵ Leafly’s description of Blueberry says DJ Short bred that strain from Purple Thai and Thai in the late 1970s, so Purple Haze shares a parent with Blueberry and, through it, with Blue Dream.^11,12

Haze, by Leafly’s account, first took root in Santa Cruz, California, in the 1960s, with genetics from Colombia, Mexico, Thailand and South India; Leafly lists Blue Dream and Jack Herer among its children.⁶

Is there an original Purple Haze?

Not one with a paper trail. SeedFinder’s entry for the legendary original describes it as probably a purple Haze phenotype, calls it “an old myth” and lists it as never available as feminized seed; its genealogy counts 54 direct hybrids, a list that includes the modern seed lines sold as Purple Haze by ILGM, United Cannabis Seeds, G13 Labs, Growers Choice and others.^9,10 High Times lists the breeder as unconfirmed.⁴

What a store sells as Purple Haze depends on the seed line or cut the grower started from. High Times warns against confusing the Purple Thai × Haze version with G13 Labs’ Afghani × Haze or ACE Seeds’ longer-flowering selection.⁴

How sativa is it?

Nearly every source leans sativa, but the labels vary by version: Leafly calls it a sativa, AllBud a sativa-dominant hybrid at 85% sativa and 15% indica, High Times a sativa-dominant hybrid and Weedmaps a hybrid.^1,2,3,4 Among seed lines, ILGM sells its seeds as sativa-dominant, Zamnesia’s are listed as sativa-dominant, ACE Seeds’ as a pure sativa and White Label’s as an indica/sativa hybrid.^14,18,19,20

Seed versions and autoflowers

SeedFinder lists 12 entries under the name: 11 breeders’ versions (ACE Seeds, Dutch-Headshop, Ferrox Kollektiv, G13 Labs, Growers Choice, ILGM, Original Sensible Seeds, Seeds66, United Cannabis Seeds, White Label and Zamnesia) and its “Unknown or Legendary” entry for the original.²¹ The ILGM, United Cannabis Seeds, Zamnesia, G13 Labs and White Label versions are available as feminized seeds, while SeedFinder lists ACE Seeds’ and Growers Choice’s as never available feminized.^{13,14,15,16,17,18,19}

Autoflowering versions exist too: SeedFinder’s genealogy lists Purple Haze Auto from Fast Buds, Genofarm, Original Sensible Seeds and Seeds66, and a Purple Haze Autoflower from United Cannabis Seeds.¹⁰

What our lab data adds

Our lab data hints that more than one plant sells under the name. In 81 terpene panels, all from Nevada, the leading terpene is terpinolene in 35 and limonene in 28; 27 of the terpinolene-led panels come from a single lab.²² Terpinolene is also the top terpene by median in our data for Super Lemon Haze, bred from Super Silver Haze, and Jack Herer, which Leafly lists among Haze’s children.^6,22,23 None of this tests parentage: matching is by label text, and labs differ.

We excluded 12 results sold under near-miss names, among them the crosses “Malawi x Purple Haze FECO”, “Malawi x Purple Haze Rosin” and “Purple Haze x Malawi by Ace Seeds”, and vape or extract products such as “Stiiizy Liquid Diamonds Purple Haze Bulk” (2 results); besides the 116 flower tests we use, 9 concentrate results matched the name strictly.²²