APETAL^ 249 



small, yellowish -green. The perianth is five-lobed. 

 There are eight stamens. The female flowers are 

 shortly-stalked, in the axils, in ovoid or round spikes 

 or heads, or few-flowered pseudo-catkins. The bracts 

 have a membranous border and are large, close, with 

 two stalkless flowers in the axils. The flower-stalks are 

 curved. There are two purple, long, linear stigmas. 

 The perianth, which is a rounded concave scale 

 with resinous glands below, encloses the ovary. The 

 heads in fruit are ovoid, round, yellow. The fruit is 

 an achene, dry, indehiscent, enclosed in the perianth. 

 The seed is pendulous. 



The Hop is in flower from July to September. It 

 grows to a height of 4 to 12 ft. being a climbing plant. 

 It is a herbaceous perennial. 



The plant is dioecious. The flowers are wind- 

 pollinated. The pollen is scattered slowly owing to 

 the small slits by which the pollen escapes. 



The achenes, provided with persistent bracts, which 

 serve as parachutes, are dispersed by the wind. 



Though a well-known plant the Hop has few names: 

 Bine, Bur, Hop, Seeder. 



The Hop is used in brewing. The tender shoots 

 have been used as a pot-herb and eaten like Asparagus. 

 Hops were introduced from the Netherlands about 

 1524. Bitter herbs were before this made into a 

 drink and the beverage called Ale, but when Hops 

 came to be used it was called Beer. In Kent and 

 Sussex the master of a hop farm cuts as many slips 

 of hop-bine or hazel-twig as there are bins in the 



