To attain this end we must not trust to the vague expressions of most authors, nor to the labels attached to the specimens in herbaria, since frequently no distinction has been made between cultivated, naturalized, or truly wild plants, and the two varieties of _Boehmeria nivea_ (_Urtica nivea_, Linnæus), and _Boehmeria tenacissima_, Gaudichaud, or _B. candicans_, Hasskarl, have been confounded together; forms which appear to be varieties of the same species, because transitions between them have been observed by botanists. There is also a sub-variety, with leaves green on both sides, cultivated by Americans and by M. de Malartic in the south of France. The variety earliest known (_Urtica nivea_, L.), with leaves white on the under side, is said to grow in China and some neighbouring countries. Linnæus says it is found on walls in China, which would imply a plant naturalized on rubbish-heaps from cultivation. But Loureiro[703] says, “_habitat et abundanter colitur in Cochin-China et China_,” and according to Bentham,[704] the collector Champion found it in abundance in the ravines of the island of Hongkong. According to Franchet and Savatier,[705] it exists in Japan in clearings and hedges (_in fruticetis umbrosis et sepibus_). Blanco[706] says it is common in the Philippine Isles. I find no proof that it is wild in Java, Sumatra, and other islands of the Malay Archipelago. Rumphius[707] knew it only as a cultivated plant. Roxburgh[708] believed it to be a native of Sumatra, but Miquel[709] does not confirm this belief. The other varieties have nowhere been found wild, which supports the theory that they are only the result of cultivation. +Hemp+—_Cannabis sativa_, Linnæus. Hemp is mentioned, in its two forms, male and female, in the most ancient Chinese works, particularly in the _Shu-King_, written 500 B.C.[710] It has Sanskrit names, _bhanga_ and _gangika_.[711] The root of these words, _ang_ or _an_, recurs in all the Indo-European and modern Semitic languages: _bang_ in Hindu and Persian, _ganga_ in Bengali,[712] _hanf_ in German, _hemp_ in English, _chanvre_ in French, _kanas_ in Keltic and modern Breton,[713] _cannabis_ in Greek and Latin, _cannab_ in Arabic.[714]