Black Widow is an Indica-leaning hybrid of Brazilian and south Indian landraces that was originally cultivated by breeder Scott Blakey -- aka Shantibaba -- under the name White Widow.

When Blakey and breeder Howard Marks -- aka Mr. Nice -- left Green House Seed Company in the late 1990s, they changed the name to Black Widow to distinguish their plant from White Widow strains sold by other seed banks.