The hop (Humulus) is a small genus of flowering plants, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers, commonly called hops, are used as flavouring and stabilisers during beer brewing.Although frequently referred to as the hop vine, it is technically a bine; unlike vines, which use tendrils, suckers, and other appendages for attaching themselves, bines have stout stems with stiff hairs to aid in climbing. It is a perennial herbaceous plant which sends up new shoots in early spring and dies back to the cold-hardy rhizome in autumn. Hop shoots grow very rapidly and at the peak of growth can grow 20–50 cm per week. Hop bines climb by wrapping clockwise around anything within reach, and individual bines typically grow between 2 to 15 m depending on what is available to grow on. The leaves are opposite, with a 7–12 cm petiole and a cordate-based, palmately lobed blade 12–25 cm long and broad; the edges are coarsely toothed. When the hop bines run out of material to climb, horizontal shoots sprout between the leaves of the main stem to form a network of stems wound round each other.

Humulus lupulus (Hops)

Botanic Name	Humulus lupulus
Common Name	Hops, Common Hop 1
Family	Cannabinaceae
Parts Used	Strobiles
Habitat	Roadsides, waste places. Native to both North America and Europe, hops grow throughout the North and South islands of New Zealand; they are also cultivated in both New Zealand and Tasmania for beer-brewing 1
Constituents	Resinous bitter pricniples (humulone, cohumulone, adhumulone) 2 Volatile oil (myrcene, humulene, caryophyllene) 2 Flavonoids (rutin, kaempferol, quercetin, chalcones) 2 Polyphenols (tannins) 2 Phenolic acids (ferulic, chlorogenic) 2 Unidentified oestrogenic substances 2
Actions	Sedative 2, 3, 4 Soporific (Hypnotic) 2, 3 Spasmolytic 2 Visceral antispasmodic 4 Aromatic bitter 2 Antiseptic 3, 4 Astringent 3 Bitter digestive tonic 4
Applications	Hysteria 5 Dysmenorrhoea 5 Nervous Exhaustion 5 Pruritis 5 Facial and brachial neuralgia 5 Local inflammatory and irritable conditions 5 To visceral smooth muscle tensions affecting digestive and bowel function 4, 3 As a bitter tonic to aid digestion 4, 2 As a sedative to encourage restfulness and sleep and reducing symptoms of nervous tension 4 , 3, 2 As an inhalant to induce sleep 4 Headache 3 Ulcers (topical) 3
Dosage	Medium Dose Herb LE (1:1, 45%) 0.5 – 1 ml tds 2
Combinations	In insomnia Passiflora incarnata and Valeriana officinalis 3
C/I Cautions	Inadvisable in depression 2, 6
BHP S/I	Restlessness associated with nervous tension headache and/or indigestion7

References

• Reader’s Digest, Magic and Medicine of Plants. Surry Hills: Reader’s Digest, 1994.
• Bradley, P.R.(Ed.), British Herbal Compendium Volume I, British Herbal Medicine Association, 1992.
• Hoffmann, D., The New Holistic Herbal, Element, Dorset, 1990.
• Mills, S., The Complete Guide to Modern Herbalism, Thorsons, Great Britain, 1994.
• Priest, A.W. and Priest, L.R. Herbal Medication. A Clinical and Dispensary Handbook. London: L.N. Fowler & Co. Ltd.
• McGuffin, M., Hobbs, C., Upton, R., Goldberg, A., American Herbal Products Association - Botanical Safety Handbook, CRC Press, 1997.
• British Herbal Pharmacopoeia 1983. British Herbal Medical Association. 1989.