132 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



[England.] Annual. Summer, Autumn. 



Stem 1 to 3 feet high, simple or branched; in the female ])lant 

 usually stouter and taller than in the male. Leaves opposite, stalked, 

 digitate, with 5 to 9 narrowly ellii)tical-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, 

 serrate segments. Stipules small, subulate, free. Male flowers in lax 

 axillary panicles, and in a naked terminal panicle ; the axillary ones 

 and the branches of the terminal one commonly in pairs. Female 

 flowers in axillary and terminal glomerules. Achene (the well-known 

 hempseed) brownish-grey, enclosed in and concealed by the calyx. 

 Plant green, the female darker than the male; leaves scabrous and 

 glandular; the stem, especially in the upj.er part, puberulent. 



Common Hemp. 



French, Chanvre cultive. German, Gemeiner Hanf. 



This plant is originally a native of India and Persia, and is generally cultivated, 

 although it is only in hot dry climates that it fonns the resin which gives it such 

 value in the estimation of the natives, apart from its fibre-producing qualities. The 

 dried plant, or portions of it, are sold in the bazaars of India under the name of Bhang 

 and Gunjah, while the resin itself is known as Churras. This resin is collected 

 during the hot season in the following singular manner : — Men clad in leather dresses 

 run through the hemp fields, brushing through the plants with all possible violence. 

 The soft resin adheres to the leather, and is subsequently scraped off, and kneaded 

 into balls. In Nepal, according to Dr. M'Kinnon, the leathern attire is dispensed 

 with, and " the resin is gathered on the skin of the naked coolies ! " Gunjah is smoked 

 like tobacco ; Bhang is not smoked, but pounded with water into a pulp so as to make 

 a di'ink ; both are stimulants, and intoxicating ; but the Churras or resin possesses 

 much more powerful properties. In small quantities it produces pleasant excitement, 

 which passes into delirium and catalepsy, if the quantity be increased ; if still con- 

 tinued, a peculiar form of insanity is produced. Many of the Asiatics are passionately 

 addicted to the use of this means of intoxication, as the names given to the hemp 

 show — "leaf of delusion," "increase of pleasure," "cementer of friendship:" and 

 Captain Burton, a recent traveller in the East, describes this plant as " growing 

 before every cottage door." The Arabs smoke the undried leaf with, and the Africans 

 without, tobacco in huge pipes. It produces a violent cough, ending in a kind of 

 scream, after a few long pufis, when the smoke is inhaled ; and if one man sets the 

 example, the others are sure to follow it. These grotesque sounds are probably not 

 wholly natural. Even the boys may be heard practising them, as an announcement 

 to the public that the fast youths are smoking Bhang. In many parts of Asia the 

 use of narcotic hemp has long been known. In the wars with the Crusaders men were 

 found intoxicated with this drug, which the Saracens called Hashash or Husheesh, 

 and rushing into the camps of the Christians, committed great havoc, being totally 

 regardless of death ; they were termed Hashhasheens, whence our word assassin. Of 

 whatever country hemp is native, it is certain it was known in Europe in very early 

 times, for Herodotus, writing upwards of 2000 years ago, mentions it as being culti- 

 vated by the Scythians, who used its fibre for making their garments. At the present 

 day it is cultivated in most parts of Europe, in Arabia, Persia, India, China, and in 

 America.- Russia and Poland are, however, the two great hemp-producing countries, 

 and it is from them that our supply in England is mainly derived ; but the best quality 



