Common names: Hops, Common Hops, European Hops, Beer Hops, Willow-wolf, Wolf of the woods, Bine, Lupulin.
Taxonomic name: Humulus lupulus
Family: Cannabaceae
Related herbs: Cannabis, Other Hops varieties (Noble, American, Golden and Asian Hops), Hack Berries, Trema. The Rose Family is distantly related to Cannabaceae, both being in the Rosales order.
Area of origin: Europe, Western Asia, North America
Parts used: Cones
Can be used medicinally for: Insomnia, restlessness, anxiety, tension, nervousness, irritability, and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Hot flashes, postmenopausal vaginal dryness, and menstrual cramps. Indigestion (dyspepsia), loss of appetite, bloating, gas, intestinal cramps, and stomach ulcers. Osteoarthritis, nerve pain (neuralgia), tension headaches, and toothaches. High cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. Acne, eczema, boils, leg ulcers, and dandruff. Tuberculosis, bladder infections, leprosy, and allergic rhinitis.
Healing Actions: Relaxing nervine, sedative, hypnotic, soporific, digestive stimulant, bitter, antispasmodic, anaphrodisiac, analgesic, anodyne, phytoestrogenic, diuretic, alterative, anti-microbial, antiseptic, boils.
TCM: Clear Heat and resolve Dampness
Taste: Bitter, so very bitter! Pungent. Harmonises the Stomach and relieves Pain
Energetics: Cooling
Tissue states: Excited, hot.
Organ/System affinities: Spleen, Liver, Stomach, Kidney. Nervous system, liver, stomach
Healing constituents: Resins (Bitter acids that inc. – Alpha acids (humulones): These include humulone, cohumulone, and adhumulone. When heated the Alpha acids become iso-alpha acides which are responsible for the extreme bitterness. Beta acids (lupulones): These include lupulone, colupulone, and adlupulone). Essential oils (inc. myrcene, apaha-humulene & beta-caryophyllene, linalool & geraniol). Polyphenols and flavonoids (inc. Xxnthohumol, 8-Prenylnaringenin, isoxanthohumol, quercetin, kaempferol, rutin).
Contraindications and warnings: Hops is a central nervous system depressant, so could be used with a lot of caution by anybody suffering depression or who are on medications for mental health issues.
In TCM, it is recommended not to use Hops for people with Cold or Yin-deficient characteristics or symptoms.
This herb can also increase the effect of other bitter, alterative or liver cleansing remedies, so be careful with using it when doing a cleanse. It can help but the results can be ‘explosive’ if you get the toilet humour!
Leaves an cause contact dermatitis in susceptible people (like yours truly). I come up in red welts when I contact the stems, but interestingly, not the leaves.
Description
The particular variety that we grow here at Ligaya Garden is ‘Pearl’, given to me years ago by Bev Lane, who has now passed).
Hops is an interesting plant. It’s not a ‘vine’, it’s a ‘bine’. It’s a bine because of the hairs that allow the plant to climb.
They are very vigorous plants, in season (Hops die back in Winter) and can climb very, very quickly – up to 10 metres in height. Ours’ seems happy to settle in at around 2 metres tall but they can grow much, much taller. They can spread a lot too, ours provides Summer shade along the wire trellis that spans the front of our house. The furthest they’ve covered is 6 metres!
Leaves are opposite and have 3 – 5 lobes (upper leaves may appear alternate sometimes). They are palmate in shape and coarsely toothed. The upper surface is rough, dark green and hairless. The lower surface is lighter in colour with soft hairs along the veins and glandular dots that contain lupulin).
The base of the leaf stalks have stipules that split or wither as the plant gets older.
Stalks are long, can be fleshy and are covered in downward pointing, hooked hairs (trichomes) used for climbing (that’s what makes Hops a bine, nota vine).
In a small garden, you will have to be vigilant. The Hops rhizome sends out runners which pop up close to the main plant and the number of shoots waving around the upright that it grows on would make a squid envious. This is good because we eat the young shoots as a green vegetable. The part that we use herbally is the female flower or seed cone.
When the plant enters dormancy, you can dig up runners and propagate from them very easily.
Medicinal use
Humulus is first and foremost a sedative that brings deep sleep. It is also called a ‘soporific’ meaning basically the same, it induces sleep. Used in a range of ways from tincture or infusion to pillow stuffing, Hops has traditionally been used to induce a gentle, deep sleep. I always have nice dreams when I use Hops. Hops is also used for pain relief, making it one of my go-to suggestions for folks who can’t sleep because of pain.
As a nervine and relaxant, Hops can help with anxiety issues, nervousness, tension headaches and neuralgia plus the swings of some conditions such as ADHD. relaxing the nerves goes a long way to relaxing muscles, so Hops can also be helpful in combinations the include muscle stiffness (especially stiff necks), cramps and spasms.
Hops is best known as the traditional bittering additive to beer. It enhances the taste but even though it is a sedative, doesn’t contribute to beer’s relaxing, sedating effect – that’s the alcohol talking!
Its bitterness makes Hops a potent digestive stimulant and tonic. It us useful for many complaints that are caused by sluggish digestion where it stimulates the secretion of digestive juices in the stomach and stimulates the liver and gall bladder to do their thing. Increased bile production not only breaks down fats but it also lubricates our intestines and this makes it easier to poo. So, we can not only use Hops for constipation, stomach upsets, poor digestion (and therefore fatigue) but for Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and weight problems . In herbalism, the liver is often associated with skin conditions so Hops can be of benefit for rashes and boils, eczema, acne and even dandruff!
Hops contains 8-Prenylnaringenin – the most powerful phytoestrogen known as far as I can find out. Phytoestrogens mimic human oestrogen and have many health benefits for women including reduced menopause symptoms (hot flashes), bone health maintenance, and potentially lower breast cancer risk.
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Preparing and using
Hops makes a powerful tincture but I find it more useful as an infusion drunk warm just before bedtime to give a good night’s sleep and some beautiful dreams. One night, I’d like to combine it with Mugwort (which helps you remember dreams), but I keep forgetting (maybe some Rosemary is in order) and don’t have much issue remembering them anyway. My dreams are just like real life – in full colour, all my senses included and I can remember situations and other dreams within the one I’m having. I can also transition between the current dream and remembered ones. Hops does make the dreams more gentle and just plain nice.
The dried flowers are used as stuffing inside a pillow. In both cases, the oils will help you to relax and drift off to sleep. When you make the tea, keep the cup covered until it cools down so that the oils don’t escape.
Hops tincture is one of the three ingredients that go into my special brew that helps people with chronic pain sleep. The other two are Lavender and Prickly Lettuce. More details can be found on our Mal’s Magic Brew page (I know, I’m not great at naming things…).
In TCM, Hops leaves are applied as a poultice and used to relieve the heat from boils.
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Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden
We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –
