HOP

is a twining plant, Humulus lupulus, natural order Cannabineoe, which twines in the direction of the hands of a watch (right-handed spiral). It is a perennial plant with opposite lobate leaves, and grows wild in hedges and upon river-banks. The hop is dioecious. The male flowers are small and terminal and borne in the axils of leaves, the floral envelope has five segments and there are five stamens: the female flowers are cone-like in arrangement. Each has a tubular floral envelope and is invested by a bracéeole. The cone is made up of a series of bracts with two female flowers at the base of the upper surface of each. The bracts are membranous and covered with glands which secrete an oil which ireeps off insects. Blowers are pollinated by the wind (anemophilous). The fruit is composite and is called a Strobilus.