This plant is most commonly associated with beer. It gives the beverage it's slightly bitter taste but it also preserves it. The bitters are found only in the ripe conelike fruits of the female plant.

Native Americans made a sedative from the blooms of hops and they also applied dried heated flowers to relieve toothaches. Herbalists value the plant for its sedative properties and pharmacologists agree that the plant most likely has a sedative effect.

It's native to both North America and Europe and grows mostly in waste areas.

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