100 FLOWERS. 



(53) Indian Hemp. 



The flowering tops of pistillate plants of Cannabis sativa. 

 Linn. (N.O. Urticacese), cultivated in tropical districts of India. 



In the flattened masses of which the drug consists, the 

 following organs may be distinguished : Stems, leafy bracts of 

 a greyish-green colour, small bracteoles, filiform stigmata of a 

 reddish-brown colour, and here and there fruits approaching 

 maturity. 



Stems. The stems of the flowering tops are distinguished by 

 long cystolithic hairs, and by the presence of numbers of 

 rosette-crystals of calcium oxalate in the cortical parenchyma. 

 The bast contains laticiferous vessels and tubular cells with 

 calcium oxalate ; the wood-parenchyma consists of polygonal 

 cells with slightly thickened, pitted walls. 



Leafy Bracts. The upper epidermis is striated and furnished 

 with very short, conical hairs which are inserted between the 

 epidermal cells ; the bases of these hairs are much enlarged, and 

 contain cystoliths of considerable size. The lower epidermis is 

 smooth, and provided with stomata and with simple as well as 

 glandular hairs. The stomata are very numerous; they are 

 surrounded by five or six cells which exhibit little regularity in 

 their arrangement. The hairs are most abundant over the 

 veins ; they are cystolithic, but are longer and much less en- 

 larged at the base than those of the upper surface. The glands 

 are large and sessile like those of labiate plants ; they are 

 divided by vertical walls into several cells. The veins are 

 characterised by the presence in the bast of laticiferous vessels 

 containing a brown latex. 



Bracteoles. These bear numerous glands, some of which are 

 sessile, but others of which are supported upon long pluri- 

 cellular and pluriserial stalks. Below the lower epidermis of 

 the bracteoles there is a layer of cells, each of which contains a 

 rosette of calcium oxalate. 



Stigmata. These are covered with long papillae. 



Fruits. The presence of these in the powder is indicated by 

 the large sclerenchymatous cells derived from the hard layer of 

 the pericarp. 



The diagnostic characters of powdered Indian hemp are : 



(a) The remarkabU curved hairs with cystoliths at their base. 



(b) The secreting glands and their pluricellular pedicels, often 



much broken. 



(c) Fragments of parenchyma with numerous small rosettes of 



calcium oxalate. 



(d) Laticiferous vessels of the bast with brownish, granular 



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