i agree that this trait may have been vital to the plants survival in the past, and i agree that we need to preserve our base genetics...however this trait is an unwanted guest in our hybrids it persits in, it also seems its more prevalent in some hybrids than in alot of landraces which seems backwards to me...its a hard trait to get rid of and since some people think this constitutes responsible feminized breeding its become even more common
some strains it only happens after its mature but thats become the minority, most of the time you see this trait persist threwout flowering, how does that help anyone whos growing this plant for themselves?
Don't forget my opening quotation: "...the plants point of view".
We've been hybridizing for generations now for sensimilla plants. We've been purposely exaggerating the sexuality of them in a way also; the swollen pistillates, the aromatic
terpenes, and the high calyx-to-leaf ratio. These traits which are the result of many generations of artificial selection all are unnatural to the plant itself. The landraces are less susceptible to the late-flower stamen response because they've been allowed to develop in a natural climate, free from our influence (mostly). With no last-ditch desperate need to reproduce a few offspring (like you get with sensimilla), landrace strains need no such mechanism.
Basically, the artificial selection of breeders has forced some cannabis plants to restrategize their survival tactics. Any viable seeds produced by any means the plant can manage counts as a success to the plant, as long as the genes are passed. The trait will not only persist, it will become more common in the future (as long as people plant the seeds).
I've only personally ever seen this trait on very over-mature plants. It's possible that a temperature or humidity irregularity may be contributing to any stamen development earlier in the growth cycle. I recall that the early Thai's grown in these latitudes were often hermie, but that was before my time. It's possible that their progeny are the cause of all of this.
I've only personally ever had a single true hermaphrodite plant in all of my years. Nearly every report I've ever heard of a hermie ends up being this late-sensimilla stamen response, and I've never seen it happen earlier than about the seventh week of flowering either, so I can't really comment on your assertion that it's becoming more common earlier in development since I haven't observed that myself.
Whenever I really want to preserve something that won't clone well I always employ the late-sensimilla stamen technique to make a few seeds. Being an all organic guy, it's an invaluable tool.