Earthy, musky, faintly sweet
Myrcene
The most common terpene in commercial cannabis, and the single strongest chemical marker of the "indica" label — which is a labelling correlation, not a proven effect.
- Aroma
- Earthy, musky, faintly sweet
- Also found in
- Hops, Mango, Lemongrass, Thyme
Genomic work published in Nature Plants in 2021 found that myrcene concentration accounted for about 21% of the variation in whether a sample was labelled indica or sativa. That is the clearest chemical basis anyone has found for the indica/sativa split. It tells you why the label gets applied — it does not tell you that myrcene makes you sleepy.
The popular "couch-lock" association is preclinical at best. A 2024 systematic review noted that myrcene combined with CBD "did not show significant additional differences," which cuts against the simple synergy story.
If you find that products high in myrcene suit you, that is useful personal data. It is not a pharmacological rule.
What marketing claims
- • Sedation and "couch-lock"
- • Muscle relaxation
- • Enhances THC absorption
What the evidence supports
No human clinical evidence for sedation from myrcene at cannabis-realistic doses. The widely-repeated "0.5% myrcene threshold" claim has no peer-reviewed basis we could locate.
Conditions where Myrcene shows up in the suggested profile
Sources
- Watts S, McElroy M, Migicovsky Z, Maassen H, van Velzen R, Myles S. Cannabis labelling is associated with genetic variation in terpene synthase genes. Nature Plants. 2021;7(10):1330-1334.(DOI 10.1038/s41477-021-01003-y)Accessed 2026-08-15.
- André R, Gomes AP, Pereira-Leite C, et al. The Entourage Effect in Cannabis Medicinal Products: A Comprehensive Review. Pharmaceuticals. 2024;17(11):1543.(DOI 10.3390/ph17111543)Accessed 2026-08-15.
- Smith CJ, Vergara D, Keegan B, Jikomes N. The phytochemical diversity of commercial Cannabis in the United States. PLOS ONE. 2022;17(5):e0267498.(DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0267498)Accessed 2026-08-15.