British Native Trees
and Shrubs

Hop Humulus lupulus (Cannabaceae)

The sun in the south or else southlie and west
Is joy to the Hop, as welcomed ghest
But wind in the north, or else northerly east,
To Hop is as ill as a fray in a feast.

Five Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie
Thomas Tusser

 

Twisting clockwise as it goes, the perennial hop can scramble up a tree or through a hedge at tremendous speed, reaching a height of 6 m in a single season. Tendril-like tips and stiff, backward-pointing hairs on the tough, fibrous stem help this climber to make its way through neighbouring foliage, displaying its three to five-lobed, opposite pairs of sharply-toothed, vine-like leaves, each up to 15 cm long. From July to August the flower appear, male and female on separate plants. The green male flowers, 5 mm across with five exposed anthers, are carried in loose, branched clusters, while the tiny, green, egg-shaped, female flowers are hidden by scales. After pollination the scales enlarge into the familiar, papery, yellowish-green cones covered in resinous glands which are used by brewers to help preserve and flavour beer. The panicles of cone-like fruiting heads enclose nut-like fruits.

Hop is found in hedgerows, copses and scrub on damp soils in the lowlands of southern England. Being widely cultivated, the plant often occurs elsewhere as an escapee.

With its attractive leaves and pleasantly fragrant fruiting heads of the female plant, this is an excellent native alternative to foreign Clematis species for covering a trellis, pergola or garden fence. It can also be grown along ropes or trained on a pole or obelisk to form a shrub. Hop grows in sun or semi-shade and prefers moist, well-drained soil. It is the only native member of the hemp family and hop tea was used by herbalists as a sedative. Young shoots can be cooked and eaten like asparagus and dried flowering hop is very effective in flower arrangements. Propagation is by sowing seed under glass in April and planting out in late May or June, or by division in autumn.

The leaves are the main food of the caterpillars of comma butterflies and sometimes of peacock butterflies. It is also enjoyed by pale tussock, twin-spotted quaker, pepper and ghost moths.

Page last updated - January 10, 2002  

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