( 5 )
in the whole gánjá mahal, there is no attempt made to uproot the wild male
plants to be found growing everywhere in fences and ditches. Besides which
there are the abnormal male flowers on female plants for which the poddar
cannot be held responsible, some of which escape the notice of the cultivator
himself throughout the season ; these are undoubtedly functionally perfect,
and may easily account for the presence of seeds. That these abnormal males
are mainly accountable for the seeds that occur seems probable from two
circumstances. One of these, which has been pointed out by Mr. Kerr,1 i s t h a t
seeds are often more numerous in fields where the owner has been ailing and
unable to look after his crop by going round and removing the abnormal
male flowers that make their appearance on female plants. I am not able
to corroborate this observation, for even in the field already spoken of, which
had received no attention for half the season, there were not more than an
average number of seeds. This, however, does not contradict Mr. Kerr's
experience: for, as has been said, only one plant with abnormal male flowers
was found in the whole field.
The other circumstance is the presence, in very considerable numbers, in
every field, of functionless female plants, perhaps indicating fertilization by
abnormal pollen, capable of causing an embryo to develope into a seed that
will not only germinate, but produce a plant apparently perfect but incapable of
reproduction; the presence of these abnormal males themselves may indicate the
same thing. It must, however, be admitted that the want of function in a
certain number of females may be only due to the unnatural conditions, resulting
from high cultivation, under which they grow. The fact that, so far as all
vegetative functions are concerned, these khásiá plants are unusually well
developed, points rather in this direction.
It may be mentioned in passing that the cultivator, looking at the plant
entirely in its resin-bearing aspect, considers the sex that produces this substance
the nobler of the two and calls it m ardá or male ; the worse than useless male,
which if left would fertilize his field and ruin his crop, is to him mádi, or
female ; the useless but innocent kh ásiá, which he does not remove from the
field while young or reap when mature, is, as its name indicates, collated with
the sex to which it really belongs. The misapplication of the sexual names
is not surprising ; it prevailed in Europe three centuries ago. 2 What, however,
is surprising among people who are able to distinguish the sexes before the
flowers appear, is that they have not attempted to distinguish between the seeds
that will produce male and those that will produce female flowers. It has
been said in Europe, though without being confirmed, that the seeds which
produce male plants are longer, thicker and heavier than those that yield female
plants, which are distinctly lighter and of a more rounded or oval shape. 3
The following table shows the relationship of the three substances to the
hemp plant and to each other :—
TABLE I.—Relationship of the Hemp Narcotics.
The hemp
plant
(Cannabis s a t i c a L
) p r o d u c e s
in tropical countries
generally in both wild and cultivated
plants
resin diffused throughout the
leaves, which are therefore col-
lected, and constitute
S i d d h i .
in India
in the female only and
under cultivation, the male
having to be destroyed,
resin as an exudation on the
flowering-tops which are there-
fore collected, and constitute
G á n j á .
in certain temperate countries
in both sexes, but more par-
ticularly the female, and
most markedly in cultivated
plants, though the males are
not destroyed,
resin as an exudation on upper
leaves and female flowering-
tops, which is collected as
Charas.
CHAPTER III.—SIDDHI, OR BHANG.
Siddhi consists of the leaves of the hemp plant collected while green and
then dried. They are evidently collected in some cases with more care than in
others, because in some samples only leaves are to be found, while in others
1 H. C. Kerr, Report, p. 18.
2 Dalechamp ; Historia Generalis Plantarum, p. 497 (1587), figures as Cannabis mas the sex that bears
the seeds and as Cannabrs fœmina the one with flowers that to him appeared " inutiles et vanescentes."
3 Autenreith, Disquisitio de diserim. Sex. pp. 13, 15 ; how far there is any truth in the statement it is
impossible to say.