Root moderately creeping, branched. Stems herbaceous, weak 
and twining, not climbing by means of tendrils, but ascending trees, 
shrubs, or poles by their own spiral form, which is always accord- 
ing to the apparent motion of the sun, or from left to right, sup- 
posing the observer in the centre ; these stems are many feet long, 
branched, leafy, angular, often twisted, hollow, and rough with 
small hooked prickles. Leaves opposite, on longish prickly pe- 
tioles, heart-shaped, pointed, serrated, either undivided, or3-lobed, 
sometimes 5-lobed, very rough on both sides with minute points. 
Stipulas large, membranous, reflexed, between the petioles. Flowers 
greenish-yellow, pendulous ; the sterile ones in compound, axillary 
panicles (see fig. 1.) ; the fertile ones on a distinct plant from the 
sterile ones, egg-shaped, in pendulous, cone-like catkins (see f. 4). 
The Hop plant is a native of most parts of Europe, also of Japan. The 
young shoots, when they have risen 3 or 4 inches from the root, are gathered 
and eaten early in the Spring, boiled like asparagus, to which they ate very 
little inferior; they are occasionally sold in the market, under the name of 
Hop-tops. From the stems of the Hop a strong cloth is made in Sweden, and 
they are said to contain one of the very best materials for making all kinds of 
paper. A decoction of the roots, from 1 to 2 ounces; or an extract of them, 
to the quantity of 20 or 30 grains, is said to be sudorific, and to answer the pur- 
poses of Sarsaparilla. — Horses, cows, goals, sheep, and swine, eat the plant. 
Papiho Io, Papilio C. album, Phaleena Humuli, and Phalcena rostralis, 
live upon it ; and it is often much injured bv the Honey-dew, which is the ex- 
crement of a small green fly, ( Aphis Humuli) . A very small fungus, Erysiphe 
macularis ( Hop Mildew ), Hook. Brit. FI. v. ii. pt. 11 . p.325, is often parasiti- 
cal on the leaves. 
The Hops of Commerce are the ripe catkins or cones of the fertile flowers 
of this plant, their use for the preservation of beer, and the culture of the 
plant, are said to have been first introduced into England from Flanders, in 
the reign of Henry the Vlllth, about the year 1524. Before that time 
Ground-Ivy, called also Ale-hoof, or Tun-hoof ( Gleclioma kederacea, t. 136 J 
was generally used for preseiving beer ; but now all public brewers are 
enjoined under a severe penalty to use no other bitter than Hops for their malt 
liquors. A pillow filleJ with Hops is reported to produce comfortable repose 
in cases where opiates have been unsuccessful. The Hop is now extensively 
cultivated in some puts of England, especially in Kent, Worcestershire, 
Herefordshire, Sussex, and Essex.* 
The Natural Order, Urtice.e, consists of dicotyledonous trees , 
or shrubs, or herbs, whose leaves are either alternate or opposite ; 
with membranous stipulas. Their flowers are monoecious or dioeci- 
ous, and apetalous, (without a corolla). Their calyx is membra- 
nous, lobed, and permanent ; their stamens definite, with the 
anthers curved inwards in aestivation, but curving backwards with 
elasticity when bursting. The ovary, which is superior, is simple, 
with a single upright ovule. The fruit is a simple, indehiscent 
nut, surrounded by the calyx, which is either membranous or fleshy. 
The British genera belonging to this order are Parielaria, t. 224 ; 
Urtica, t. 298 ; and Humulus, t. 342. 
* Mr. E. J. Lance lias lately published a Work, under the title of “ The 
Hop Farmer. ’’ It contains a complete account of Hop culture, its History, 
Laws, Uses, &c. 
