Cannabaceae : Humulus lupulus var. lupuloides
Family Name
Cannabaceae
Common Name
Common hops
Native American Name
Lakota: čhaŋíyuwe waȟpé onápȟóȟye
Description
Humulus lupulus is a perennial, dioecious vine with green, branched stems that grow to 10 m or more in length and 1-5 mm in diameter. The simple, opposite leaves have long petioles, from 2.5 to 12 cm in length. The blades are ovate, 5-15 cm long and 4-16 cm wide, unlobed or with 3-5 lobes, the lobes with sharply pointed tips. The margins are finely toothed, the upper leaf surface is mostly hairless, the lower surface having soft hairs along the veins and occasionally on the surface, along with the yellow glands that dot the lower surface. Male plants have panicles of flowers, 7-15 cm long and 1.5-5 cm wide, in branching clusters on short peduncles arising from upper leaf axils and at branch tips, each panicle with 20 to 100+ flowers. Each flower has a short pedicel, 5 yellow-green spreading sepals and 5 short stamens. Female plants have 10 to 50 pairs of flowers in 5-10 mm long catkin-like clusters at the tips of peduncles arising from leaf axils and branch tips. The sessile flowers are subtended by green to yellowish bracts, with 2 styles and no petals. The fruit are yellowish achenes that are surrounded by the enlarged bracts that create a cone-like structure 2-5 cm long and 2-3 cm in diameter. The green cone-like fruit ripen to straw-colored and eventually turn brown. Common hops bloom from July to September and are commonly found in moist thickets and deciduous woodlands along drainages in South Dakota.
Horticulture Notes
Seed Collection: Collect seeds in the fall from brown cones.
Germination: Fall sowing or 60-day cold treatment need to break dormancy.
Vegetative Propagation: Separation of rhizome sections in spring.
Soils: Well drained, sandy loam soil is best.
Light: Full sun.
Water: Moist conditions.
Additional Notes
Hops make an interesting vine for native plant gardens. They do well on trellises, pergolas, arbors and porches, as they need a support structure on which to grow. Common hops are closely related to the European variety used to make beer and have found use in some craft beers.