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Hemp field in Afghanistan, showing portly harvested crop of the short,conical Cannabis indica grown there.MARIHUANA, HASHEESH, or HEMP (species of thegenus Cannabis), also called Kif, Bhang, or Charas, isone of the oldest cultivated plants. It is also one of themost widely spread weeds, having escaped cultivation,appearing as an adventitious plant everywhere,except in the polar regions and the wet, forested tropics.Cannabis is the source of hemp fiber, an ediblefruit, an industrial oil, a medicine, and a narcotic. Despiteits great age and its economic importance, the plantis still poorly understood, characterized more by whatwe do not know about it than by what we know.Cannabis is a rank, weedy annual that is extremelyvariable and may attain a height of 18 feet. Flourishingbest in disturbed, nitrogen-rich soils near human habitations,it has been called a "camp follower," going withman into new areas.It is normally dioecious-that is, the male and femaleparts are on different plants. The male or staminateplant is usually weaker than the female or pistillateplant. Pistillate flowers grow in the leaf axils. Theintoxicating constituents are normally concentrated in aresin in the developing female flowers and adjacentleaves and stems.30