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The hop Humulus Lupulus, Linn is native to Britian. The leaves are heart shaped and lobed, on foot stalks, and are opposite of each other. They are of a dark green color and their edges are finely toothed. The hop plant is dioecious which means that the male and female flowers are found on seperate plants. The flowers arise from the axils of the leaves. The male flowers are in loose bunches or panicles, 3 to 5 inches long, while the female flowers are in leafy cone-like catkins called strobiles. When fully developed the flowers are 1 1/4 inches long, oblong in shape and rounded, consisting of a number of overlapping, yellowish-green bracts, attached to seperate axis. Each of these bracts enfolds at the base a small fruit (achene.) Both the fruits and bracts are sprinkled with yellowish translucent glands, which appear as a granular substance.
Male plants have a low commercial value, but are often used to
pollinate females. Pollination stimulates higher yields by
increasing cone size and seed set, but because brewers prefer
seedless hops, males are only grown with other wise poor
yielding female varieties. Hop seed from a pollinated
female is only planted when a cross between the male and female
is desired to obtain a new variety.
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Hop Descriptions
The roots are stout and are perennial. The plant produces
annual vines from a permenant root stalk called a crown.
The stem which arises from it each year is of a twining nature,
reaching a great length, flexible and very tough, angled and
prickly, with a tenacious fiber. Vines may grow up to 25
feet in a single season, but will die back to the crown each
fall. Hops have been known to grow 6-8 inches a day
during the summer in the Pacific Northwest. In aaaition to
the true roots and the aerial vine, the crown also produces
underground stems called rhizomes. Rhizomes resemble roots
but posses numerous buds and are used for vegetative
propagation.