Humulus lupulus Seeds | Dry Flowers Hops
LATIN NAME: Humulus lupulus
COMMON NAME: Hops
Plant Profile
Humulus lupulus, better known as Hops, is a vigorous, twining climber. Hops is a vigorous, twining climber of cool, temperate lands, and its fragrant, papery, cone-like flowers have given beer its bitterness, its aroma and its keeping quality for a very long time. Fast, climbing bines carry coarse, lobed leaves and climb high up poles and strings, and small, green, cone-shaped female flowers hang in clusters through late summer. Dried cones are used in brewing and herbal practice alike. When it flowers, local bees and other insects make good use of it. Taken as a whole, it is a plant that repays a little attention many times over.
Science & Biotechnology
The hop is a brewing crop with a serious pharmacopoeial side. The bitter alpha-acids (humulones) and the prenylflavonoid xanthohumol have documented sedative and anti-inflammatory properties, and hop preparations — usually combined with valerian — have European monograph backing for sleep and restlessness, with small trials supporting the combination. Xanthohumol’s metabolite 8-prenylnaringenin is the most potent plant oestrogen known, active at microgram levels; it explains both traditional lore about hop-pickers and the caution given to people with oestrogen-sensitive conditions. For brewers and gardeners, the same chemistry is what preserves and flavours beer.
Humulus lupulus sits in the Humulus group, a group that keeps botanists, horticulturists and plant breeders busy with questions of classification, adaptation and ornamental potential. Hops has a strong and well-documented place in plant science, and bitter, aromatic compounds in female cones have been studied for a very long time. For practical purposes the message is encouraging: generations of cultivation have produced plants of predictable, well-mannered garden character.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden, Hops earns its place in borders, containers and mixed plantings, and it also rewards growers who raise plants for cutting, drying or kitchen use. Hops is grown for fragrant cones, and they have been heart of beer-making for centuries, giving bitterness, aroma and keeping quality to the brew. Dried cones have also a long traditional use in herbal practice, and plant is a fine, vigorous, old-fashioned climber for sunny garden, covering poles, strings and the fences. Hops has been grown in cool, temperate lands of old world for a very long time, and fragrant, papery, cone-like flowers have given beer its bitterness, its aroma and its keeping quality since brewers learned their value. Beyond the establishment year, its needs are simple and few.
Hops give beer its bitterness and give herbal medicine a gentle sedative: hop strobiles are official in European phytotherapy for restlessness and sleep, and their prenylflavonoid xanthohumol is an active research subject.
Growing from Seed
Hops is one of those generous plants that come along well from seed. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Move strong seedlings into individual pots, keep them in good light, and set them out when the weather and their size agree.
Our Take
Hops earns its space through character rather than fuss. Beginners will find it patient of imperfect technique.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Hops often pair it with these related subjects: