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DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Etymology. — The name kumulus, from the Latin, humus, earth, was given to 

 this plant because it delights in new rich earth. Its native haunts are in the 

 deep soils of swamps and low grounds. The specific name is a diminutive 

 of lupus, the Latin for wolf, " a little wolf." As it grows among the wil- 

 lows it twines about them and chokes them, as the wolf does a flock of 

 sheep. The common name, hop, is from the Old English hoppen, which 

 signifies "climb," hence the climbing plant. 



History. — When this plant was introduced into cultivation we have no 

 means of knowing. It is said to have been brought into England from 

 Flanders, and to have attracted the attention of gardeners and agriculturists 

 first in the reign of Henry VIII. more than 400 years ago. Malted liquors 

 had been formerly called ale ; but the use of hops made them heer. This plant 



was known to the Eomans 

 before the Christian era. 

 Pliny speaks of it as a 

 garden-vegetable. 



Use. — The hop plays 

 an important part in the 

 manufacture of beer and 

 ale. The plant furnishes 

 the substance known as 

 lupulin, in which the vir- 

 tues of the hop reside in 

 part. It is said to clarify 

 these liquors, and to pre- 

 vent acidification. 



It is aromatic, astrin- 

 gent, tonic, sudorific, and 

 anodyne, and promotes 

 sleep in some cases of in- 

 somnia when other reme- 

 dies fail. A pillow filled 

 with hops is said to have 

 been used by George III. 

 of England in his severe 

 illness in 1787, by direction of his physician, Dr. Willis. 



It is an important ingredient in the domestic materia medica. It is used 

 also in making yeast. Young shoots were formerly prepared for the table and 

 eaten as a substitute for asparagus. In Sweden a strong cloth is made of the 

 fiber of the stem. 



HuMULUs LUPULus (Common Hop). 



FICTTS, Tourn. (Fig Tree.) Flowers monoecious, lining the interior 

 surface of a hollow globular or pear-shaped fleshy receptacle, at the top 

 of which is an opening, which is shut by small scales, staminate 

 flowers above, and the fertile ones beneath ; calyx of the staminate 

 flowers 3-parted ; stamens 3 ; pistillate flowers with 2 stigmas and a 

 5-cleft calyx. Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous, and lobed. 

 Fruit in shape of a little bottle, edible. 



1. F. Carica, L. (Common Fig.) A small, irregularly branched tree, .5 to 

 20 feet high; or an irregular straggling bush branching near the root, forming 

 an irregular head. Branches cylindrical ; bark ])ale-reddish, young branches 



