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shortarse_hedgewitch

hops

hmmm, wondering what people know about hops, i know a bit,, but i am unsure of some things.

hops grow wild where i live and in spring i can collect hop aparagus, te worlds most expensive vegetable, for free (ha!)

but i was wondering bout their uses, as in the unpollinated fermale flower cones. they make nice ornaments on beams (whole bine, cut dow with the string at the eng of the year) and that they have calming sedative effects. but i also heard that working wih hops and using them can cause delayed periods in women.

one observation was when women came down from the north of the country to pick hops in kent they found that they were skipping periods.

however, my mother disputes this. she knows very little about herbs, but drinksa lot of very hoppy beer. she is in her own words "one of the most regular women you can imagin" and that it was to do with the fact that these hop pickers were often very friendly with the kentish men and that is what cased the problem if you get my meaning

what alovely conversation that was, and over lunch too.

either way, have any women out there experienced this?

anyone else heard of this?

any other information about hops?

oh and one bit of information you might not know.

hops are actualy closely related to canabis, they are in fact part of the family Canabaceae. they share much in common with canabis, including being dioceous (i can't spell, this is spposed to be the word for seperate sexes on different plants), have 4 (i think) sided stems, the lobed leaves of hops ae vaugly reminicent of the palmate leaves of cannabis. we also want to use the unpollinated female flowers of both plants. they are both narcotic (believe it or not you can het high off hops, provided you don't smoke weed, in which case your tolerance will mean that you won't realy notice the lupuline in the hops not being as powerful as THC). adn you can graft a hop stem onto a cannabis rootstock to create a stealth cannabis plant, it grows as a hop (only annual though) and its flowers contain THC.

well i know mmore about that than i thought, sorry to bore anyone but its interesting to some.

serious disclaimer: i don't advise anyone to try the hop grafting thing as it is illegal. don't, you could get in trouble.

well i'm rambling nore than a blackberry plant, or would that be brambling...

Comments (8)

  • Heathen1
    18 years ago

    :o) I grow hops... yes I do... turn them into beer as well! :o) I have the Hallertauer variety... They are very bitter, so I don't use them often, but drinking a tea, if I can force myself, knocks me out... and doesn't make me irregular. BUT, every woman is different and has a different story to tell...

  • Daisyduckworth
    18 years ago

    The flowers of common hops are used as a tea to treat insomnia and headaches, leprosy, dysentery, and may also improve digestion. A pillow stuffed with dried flowers is believed to induce restful sleep. Use externally to treat ulcers, frostbite, and inflammations. Used in males to treat premature ejaculation and sexual neurosis. Treats asthma, tuberculosis and bronchitis. It is strongly diuretic. Stimulates milk production in nursing mothers.

    The 'sexual neurosis' thing actually relates to both males and females. The herb is anaphrodisiac - which means it reduces sexual desire, particularly if it is pathological. Hops has been used for males who are 'sex addicted', and females who are 'nymphomaniacs' (a real psychiatric disorder). It works - just ask the wife of any beer-swilling alcoholic how well (poorly!) he performs!

    I have no information on the effect of hops on menstrual regularity.

    Warning: Avoid the use of hops if impotence is a problem. Contact dermatitis can be caused by the pollen of the female flower. Do not use hops if suffering from depression, as they may aggravate the condition. It has been reported that some dogs, especially hounds, are allergic to hops. (Some people are too - it is a big problem for manual hops-pickers.)

  • shortarse_hedgewitch
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    soz, i'm being a little pedantic here, i am ndeed a pedant. but the pollen of the FEMALE flowers?

    correct me if i am making a mistake buuut, pollen is male. but the female flowers are covered with a sticky yellow resin that os secreted from resin glands (yet again, much like cannabis) on the female flowers.

    i can understand that cuasing problems, anyne who has sorted through hop cones for seeds will notice that their fngers are covered in the stuff. it doesn't wash off easyly and if ur allergic then it would be a major prob as its continuous contact. eeep!

    diddn't know about the anaphrodisiac though. interesting.

    the ultimate in practical jokes gone wrong. well not quite, but quite a bad one.

    interesting thing, women out there, having trouble breast feeding? have a beer!

    but that leads me to conclude that it may have some effect one the menstrual cycle, it obvoiusly effects the female reproductive system primary and secondary. i am wondering if it is due to levels of plant oestrogen, after all it is the femal flowers used, and as seperate plants for male and female may well have hormone differences and more extremem levells of sexual hormones can be afforded. if the level of oestrogen is kept high then that will put the menstrual cycle out of step as different stages rely on changing hormone levels, and are triggered by drops in other hormones. it has negative feedback i think, i.c. high levelks of oestrogen cause a drop in oestrogen produced, thus causing progesterone to raise.

    hmm, i also wonder that maybe continual oestrogen levels could stimulate pseudopregnancy. or maybe thats continual progesterone. wait it is progesterone.

    but aparent;y lactating women have LOW oestrogen (wait,, is estrogen and oesrtogen just different spelling of the same word, i think they are)

    progesterone maintains the womb lining and its drop causies the peiod to come therefore if there is such a thing as plant-progesterone maybe hops contain this. hmmm, odd this, i wan't to know now, i must find out

    nope, just found hops contain phytoestrogen. but prevent pregnancy. odd, liek isaid, my mum drinks more beer than most people, and due to the type of beer she likes tkaes in lots of hop phytoestrogen,, and became pregnant 4 times in 3 years. (1 miscariage, for anyone wondering about how she fitted 36 monthes of pregnancy into 36 months.)

    hmm, this topic of conversation has made me remember aboubt something else, she diddn't stop haveing periods during her pregnancy. i knw it sound impossible, but its not. due aparenly to low levels of some hormone, can't remember what. maybe its oroduction is canceled out by the addition of oestrogen duing pregnancy.

    dear gods i'm rambling like never before.

    n.b. though it may sound like it from what i'v written here my mum isn't an alcoholic, beer is just her alcoholic beverage of choice.

  • eibren
    14 years ago

    I have had Hops growing on a garden arch in my front yard for about four years now, and not one Hops cone yet.

    Even if it is a male, I would think it would have some sort of flower.....

  • simplemary
    14 years ago

    Now I know why I never wanted to put it in dream pillows...

  • eibren
    14 years ago

    It does sound qite allergenic.

    I have found that chamomile has a tendency to bother me as well, and have never felt quite right when using Echinachia.

    :o/

  • novice_2009
    14 years ago

    My only problem with dried hops i've used in sedative prepations, basic infusions, is the hops are a bit bitter for my taste, so I use them sparingly. I read once about hop pickers fatique, or something of that nature, where workers harvesting the hops would get so tired and sleepy from handling them. I like a little beer myself now and then (i blame it on German heritage-my grandfather was German). lol. Just an excuse to carry on a family tradition of having a few evening beers. I wounder if I could grow hops here in TN? Just kidding.

  • novice_2009
    14 years ago

    hedgewitch, no one thinks your mum is an alcoholic! lol.
    Here in the US, people take such a negative view of alcohol, that's why I think so many people develop problems with it. In Europe, its not so. People take a laid back approach to drinking, a glass of wine with dinner, a stop at the pub in the evening.....
    Not sure...maybe i should've been born in a different place in a different time........
    anyway.

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