124 | URTICACEE. [ Cannais. 
C. sativa, Linn.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. wi, 772; Royle Ill. 333 ; 
Madden in Journ. As. Soc., Beng. xvit (1848), pt. 1, 399; A. DC. 
L’Orig. Pl. Cult. 117 ; Duthie and Fuller in Field and Gard. Crops 
4, 80, t.t. 19 and 20 ; Watt E. D. ; Comm. Prod. Ind. 249 ; F. B. I. V, 
487 ; Kanjilal For. Fl. (ed. 2) 385 ; Collett Fl. Siml. 456 ; Prain 
Beng. Pl. 960; in Sc. Memb. Med. Depmt. (New ser. 1904) No. 12; 
—Cooke Fl. Bomb. ti, 659. Vern. Bhang, siddhi, ganja, charas. 
(Hemp). 
Abundant throughout the greater part of India in waste ground and 
by roadsides ; also widely distributed up to considerable elevations 
on the Himalaya, especially in the vicinity of habitations and on the 
sites of much frequented camping grounds along the principal trade- 
routes leading to C. Asia. For this reason it is difficult to ascertain » 
to what extent, if at all, this plant may be regarded as truly indi- 
genous in British India. The following are the more important — 
products derived from this plant :—charas, bhang, ganja, also the 
fibre and the seeds. Charas is the narcotic resinous substance which 
appears on the stems and inflorescence, and is collected chiefly from 
cultivated female plants. This substance is imported into India 
chiefly from C. Asia where the drier climate is more suitable for its 
cultivation. Bhang consists of the dried leaves and flowers and is 
largely prepared in India, as also is ganja, the name given to the dried 
flowering tops of the cultivated female plant. Both bhang and 
ganja are often mixed with tobacco and smoked. The cultivation 
of the plant for its fibre (hemp) is mainly restricted to some of the 
warm valleys of the W. Himalaya between Nepal and Kashmir. 
The male plant yields the best fibre and is always cultivated, as the 
fibre yielded directly by the wild-growing plant is werthless. Hemp 
seeds are well known as a favourite food of cage-birds, and in India 
they are often roasted and eaten by the Himalayan villagers. For 
further information regarding this plant see Watt in Commercial 
Products of India, p. 249. 
5. GIRARDINIA, Gaud.; Fl. Brit. Ind. V, 550. 
Herbs or undershrubs with stout stinging hairs. Leaves alter- 
nate, 3-nerved, entire or lobed, serrate ; stipules connate, foliaceous. 
Flowers in clusters, moncecious or sometimes dicecious; clusters 
in simple or panicled spikes or heads, armed with stinging hairs. 
Perianth simple. MAte flowers. Sepals 4-5, valvate. Stamens 
4-5, inflexed in bud, filaments free. Pistillote globose or cupular. 
