Hops

Humulus lupulus

Pliny appears to have been the first to mention hops; Dioscorides was not yet aware of the plant.
It is first referred to by name in medieval manuscripts, which also make mention of homularien,
“hops gardens,” a reference not to cultivated fields but to large wild occurrences of the plant
(DeLyser and Kasper 1994, 166). Hildegard von Bingen was the first to more precisely describe
the plant’s psychoactive effects and its use as a preservative (in beer). Hops also appears in the
works of all of the fathers of botany and was botanically described by Linnaeus. Because no
fossil precursors have been found, the phylogeny of the plant is entirely unknown. Hops is the
closest relative of hemp (Cannabis indica, Cannabis sativa). Today, hops is the most
commonly used beer additive. This use was invented toward the end of the Middle Ages by
Christian monks, who had a great interest in the anaphrodisiac qualities of hops flowers. Abbé
Adalhard, in the Statutae abbatiae corbej (822 C.E.), was the first to document the use of hops
in beer. However, the use of hops as a beer additive did not become commonplace until the
sixteenth century, when the Bavarian Purity Law—the first German drug law—was
promulgated (DeLyser and Kasper 1994, 168; Wilson 1975). Female plants only are grown
vegetatively, i.e., through clones and cuttings (Gross 1900). Female inflorescences (strobiles),
also known as hops flowers (stroboli lupuli, lupuli stroboli) or hop glands (lupuli glandula)
Because the active constituents in the dried plant material are continuously broken down by
oxidation, flowers that are more than one year old should not be used. The flowers must be
harvested before they lose their glandular leaves. A calming hops tea can be brewed with two
heaping teaspoons of hops flowers and 1/4 liter of boiling water. To increase the sedative
effects, valerian (Valeriana officinalis L.) may be added. Many breweries produce heavily
hopped beer (pilseners), most of which have a very bitter taste and also are useful as soporific
drinks. Hops—the “soul of Christian beer”—was first ingested “ritually” by monks to
suppress their natural urges. These chaste men drank huge quantities of beer so that they80
could resist the temptations of the devil, i.e., their own desires. However, hops has never
played any particular role as a true ritual plant. In recent centuries, hops flowers have
occasionally found use as an incense or an ingredient in incense blends. The plant was assigned
to the planet Mars (Culpeper) and the element water. The Omaha Indian tribe had a society of
buffalo doctors (te’ithaethe) composed of men and women to whom the buffalo had appeared in
a dream. The members of this society were specialized in the treatment of wounds. Their most
important medicine consisted of wild hops, the root of the nightshade Physalis
heterophylla Nees., and American sweet cicely, Osmorhiza longistylis (Torr.) DC. They chewed
these three ingredients and then spat them with some water onto the wounded region (Kindscher
1992, 269*). Hops and hops extracts are used as sedatives in both folk medicine and biological
medicine. The German Federal Health Office has recommended the use of hops tea as a
sedative for unease, anxiety, and sleep disorders.Hops pillows are used in aromatherapy to
promote calm and to relieve difficulty in sleeping. These pillows have been known since at least
the eighteenth century and were used in cases in which “opium had already failed” (DeLyser
and Kasper 1994, 167). In homeopathy, the agent Humulus lupulus is used primarily as a
sedative. Hop flowers contain 15 to 30% resin, the bitter acids humulone and lupulone (and
their auto-oxidation products), and an essential oil with mono- and sesquiterpenes (2-methyl-3-
buten-2-ol, β-caryophyllene, farnesene, humulene, 2-methylisobutyrate, methyl-n-octylketone,
myrcene, post-humulene-1, posthumulene-2), along with minerals, flavonoids, chalcones,
polyphenoles, and catechines. The yellow hops granules, which contain the bitter substance
lupulone, are found in hops flowers. Lupulone, which has antibiotic properties, gives beer its
characteristic bitterness. It has calming effects on humans and inhibits premature ejaculation.
Also present are enzyme-inhibiting polyphenoles (Williams and Menary 1988). Numerous
chemical races (chemocultivars, chemovarieties) have been described for hops. These vary both
quantitatively and qualitatively in their concentrations of bitter substances and essential oils
(Wohlfart 1993, 448). The leaves contain camphor oil, quercetin and quercetin glycosides
(rutin; cf. Psidium guajava), proanthocyanidins (procyanidin, prodelphini-dine), ascorbic acid,
and quebrachitol (Wohlfart 1993, 448). Because hops is very closely related to hemp (Cannabis
sativa), attempts have been made to find cannabinoids (THC) in the former. To date, none has
been detected. Hops produces a yellow coloring agent that was once used in dyeing. Hops is a
sedative and also has been characterized as a “mild hypnotic” (Roth et al. 1994, 406*; Lee et al.81
1993). It has pronounced sedative effects, especially when used in combination with valerian
(Valeriana officinalis), and is effective in treating sleep disorders and withdrawal
from diazepam addiction (Brattström 1996). The bitter substances have antibacterial,
antimycotic, spasmolytic, and estrogenic effects. Because of the estrogenic properties of hops,
chronic beer consumption can result in a feminization of the male body. This can be expressed
in morphological changes, e.g., the development of what are known as “beer breasts.” The
effects of hops are not affected by alcohol (Brattström 1996). Some of the narcotic effects of
the plant may be due to the presence of quercetin (cf. Psidium guajava).