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an abnormality mentioned by B. Clarke, 1 where, in a monstrous flower with 3 stigmas, the
perianth had three faintly marked but distinct green ribs.
Functional Abnormalities : Khásiá Hemp. —An abnormality of Cannabis
that appears to be mainly of a functional character, the associated organic deviations
from the normal condition being relative and trivial, is of common occurrence in the
hemp fields of Bengal. While it is impossible to find anywhere in fields in the
Gánjá mahals instances of male plants, 2and while care is taken by the cultivators
to prune away any stray twigs on female plants that may have male flowers, there is
in every hemp field a variable but always fairly considerable number of female plants
which are termed Khásiá ; these plants, though quite valueless, the cultiva-
tors do not attempt to remove. The plants of Khásiá hemp are marked by a total
absence of the narcotic resin for the production of which the crop is grown ; they are
female plants that flower quite as copiously as normal females do, but, though to
all appearance organically perfect, they never set any seeds. The appearance of
a Khásiá flower (PLATE 5, fig. 1) is that of a normal female flower with the differ-
ence that the glandular hairs scattered among the non-glandular ones are not
discernible owing to their cells not forming any resinous material. If functionally
defective there is no impairment of vegetative powers ; these Khásiá plants are
more bushy, and their leaves are of a darker green than is the case with normal
plants.
Nothing quite corresponding to this curious condition has been reported from other
regions where Cannabis is grown for its narcotic properties. It has been fully discussed
by Kerr 3 and by the writer, 4
who examined carefully many hundreds of plants in 1893 and
found in every case that the ovary enclosed an apparently perfect ovule though there never
was the slightest trace of fecundation having been effected. The phenomenon is not
apparently a case of non-pollination, because the styles and stigmas wither and drop off
precisely as do those of plants in which seeds are formed.
The name applied to these plants does not really refer so much to the sex as to the
fact that no resin is produced. Its exact meaning is "hermaphrodite" in the popular, not
the scientific sense of that word, but it may be fairly accurately translated "eunuch,"
"capon," or "gelding." The cultivator, thinking especially of the resin-producing pro-
perty, terms the plant that yields gánjá mardá (male) ; the worse than useless staminate
plant which, if left in the field would, as the cultivator knows by experience, cause all the
gánjá-yielding plants to set seeds and so destroy his gánjá crop, he terms mádí (female) ;
the useless but harmless non-functional female which, because it has no resin, he terms
Khásiá, he neither removes from his field while the crop stands nor reaps when the
gánjá plants are cut. The reason these plants are not removed is that, though they can
be easily detected at a fairly early stage from their more robust growth and more vivid
1
Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Ser. 3, i, p. 102 ; New Arrangem. Phan. Plants, Introd. p. 4. In the first
passage "2 or 3 green ribs," in the second "3 green ribs" are mentioned ; the two citations may of course
refer to two different instances of the abnormality.
2 C. B. Clarke in H. C. Kerr ; Report on the Cultivation of, and Trade in, Gánjá in Bengal, p. 8 :
Prain ; Report on the Cultivation and Use of Gánjá, p. 4.
3Report on the Cultivation of, and Trade in, Gánjá in Bengal, p. 9.
4 Report on the Cultivation and Use of Gánjá, p. 2.