Common name: Common hops

Latin name: Humulus lupulus L.

German names: Hopfen

Description: Hops is a perennial climbing plant with a creeping root from the Hemp family (Cannabaceae). The medicinal plant is found in moist deciduous forests, along streams and rivers, in places with an altitude of up to 1000 m. The stem of the plant reaches up to 6 meters. The flowers are bisexual, with the female inflorescences resembling a cone, which when ripe reaches 5 cm., and the males are found in the axils of the leaves. On the inside of the female flowers are essential oil glands with a bitter taste and a characteristic smell. The fruit is an ovoid flattened nut. Hops bloom from May to October.

Part of the herb used: The female inflorescences (cones)

Harvest time: The hop cones (Strobuli Lupuli) are harvested in August before they have bloomed. The collected hop cones are dried in the shade and stored in dry and ventilated places.

Chemical composition/Contents and properties: The essential oil glands of hop cones secrete lupulin (Lupulinum, Glandulae lupuli) — a yellow-green resinous coarse powder with a faint smell of valerian. Lupulin contains from 1 to 3% essential oil, bitter substances, terpene alcohols, which determine the soothing, pain-relieving and anti-spastic effect of hops. The plant also contains asparagine, choline, organic acids (isovaleric, valerian, benzoic), flavonoids, triterpenes, quercetin derivatives, tannin, humulene, as well as estrogenic substances.

Medicinal action and application: The flowers of common hops are used to produce beer. They act as a preservative and give the beer its specific bitter taste. They are also used as a leaven in bread production. Hops has an antibacterial and antimicrobial effect, but its main effect is soothing. It is used for nervous excitement, insomnia, sexual excitement, for nervous tension in the climacteric. The medicinal plant soothes the irritable bowel syndrome, relieves the symptoms of colitis, helps with liver diseases, jaundice. Hops reduce sensitivity in neuralgia and pain. Externally, hop cones are applied in the form of poultices and compresses for skin wounds, rheumatism and gout,  baldness. In folk medicine, the herb is used to treat parasites, diseases of the urinary system, inflammation of the prostate gland. During pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as in people with a stroke or heart attack, the use of hops is contraindicated.

Possibilities to offer at the customer's request:

Vesselino Ltd. offers their customers the plant in the following varieties:

• flowers/cones (Strobuli Lupuli) - dried whole, crushed, cut to a certain size at the customer's request, ground into herbal powder/flour