676 



CXCVI. ULMACE^. 



This little family was formerly placed in UrticecB, with which it agrees in its diclinous greenish 

 monochlamydeous flowers, imbricate sestivation, stamens opposite to the sepals, 1-celled and 1-ovuled 

 ovary, dry fruit, superior radicle, and stipulate leaves ; hut Urticea differ in the long coiled and elastic 

 filaments, the glohose anthers, erect orthotropous ovule, and the more or less abundant albumen. 

 Celtidees present the same afiinities, besides which the seed is pendulous and the ovule campylo- 

 tropous. 



CannahinecB have been cultivated from the remotest period, and are now spread over all northern 

 temperate regions. Hemp is said to grow wild on the hills of Central and South Asia ; the Hop is a 

 native of Europe, America, and West Asia. 



The Hop and the Hemp, although very different in appearance, are similar not only in floral struc- 

 ture, but in the tenacity of their fibres and the bitter narcotic juice which they contain. The achene and 

 bract of the Hop (Humuhis Lapulus) are covered with yellow globose glands, containing a bitter aromatic 

 principle (lupuline), which imparts to beer a slightly narcotic quality and an agreeable bitterness ; the 

 young white underground shoots are edible. The seed of the Hemp ( Cannabis sativa) contains a fixed 

 oil, which is used for making soft soap and for lighting. The stem yields textile cortical fibres. 

 The fibre of its bark, separated from the wood of the stem by prolonged maceration, is called Hemp. 

 Hemp yields a gelatinous resin, contained in little glands on the surface of the stem and leaves, which 

 possesses very intoxicating properties ; it is called cherris in Arabia, North Africa, and the East ; this 

 principle, more narcotic and dangerous even than opium, is the basis of a thick green preparation, called 

 hachish or hasheesh by the Arabs, and extensively smoked by them. 



[In India the resin collected on the body or clothes by running amongst the Hemp plants in the 

 fields is called ehurras, and taken in a solid state it yields the Tincture of Cannabis or Indian Hemp, of 

 the Pharmacopoiia. The bruised twigs are smoked as gunja, and the leaves, flowers, &c., yield the 

 infusion called bhang. The Cannabis is grown at every cottage door in tropical Africa, and smoked 

 under the name of diamha. Hemp-seed is imported in enormous quantities for feeding birds. Hemp 

 appears to have been known to the Greeks and northern races from time immemorial, but not to the 

 Hebrews and Egyptians.] 



CXCVI. ULMACEJE, MirheL 



Elm. 

 iUlmus canipei 

 Flowering branch. 



Elm. 



Flower laid open 



(mag.). 



Elm. Fruit. 



Flowers ? . Peeianth single, campanulate, persistent. 



OvART free, 1-2'Celled ; styles 2 ; ovules solitary, pendulous, 



anatropous. Fruit a samara or nut, l-seeded. Seed in/verted. 



Embryo exalbuminous, straight. Radicle superior, — Stem woody. 



Leaves alternate; stipules /Mgfaciows. 

 s.) Trees or shrubs with alternate branches and watery juice. 



Leaves alternate, distichous, simple, petioled, penninerved, 

 usually inequilateral, scabrous; stipules 2, caducous. Flowers lateral on the 

 branchlets, fascicled, ? or 1 -sexual. Perianth herbaceous or slightly coloured, 

 sub -campanulate, limh 4-5-8-fid, imbricate in aestivation, erect after flowering, 



