110. Humulus.—Hops. 111. Lupulinum, N.F.—Lupulin.

The strobiles of Hu'mulus lu'pulus Linné, carefully dried-bearing the whole of their natural glandular coating (Fam. transferred to Moraceae, U.S.P. 1900).

BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS.—Rough, climbing perennial. Leaves palmately 3- to 7-lobed, roughish, ovate. Flowers dioecious, the fertile flowers forming a strobile in fruit; calyx, akene, etc., thickly studded with yellowish, resinous grains, which give the bitterness and aroma to the hops.

HABITAT.—North Temperate Zone.

DESCRIPTION OF DRUG.—Strobile about 30 mm. (1 ⅕ in.) long, cone-shaped, consisting of numerous membranous, greenish-yellow scales attached to a thin, undulating, hairy axis; the scales are oval, leaflike, translucent, showing delicate veins, and surround a subglobular akene; there are also, covering the surface of the scales at the base and adhering to the zigzag axis, small yellow grains of lupulin, upon which the value of hops depends. Odor strong, peculiar, somewhat narcotic; taste bitter, aromatic, slightly astringent.

Powder.—See Part iv, Chap. I, B.

CONSTITUENTS.—Lupulin (Lupulinum, U.S.), volatile oil (0.08 per cent.), resin, choline, and tannin. Ash, not exceeding 8 per cent.

ACTION AND USES.—Tonic, anodyne, and slightly narcotic. Dose: ½ to 5 dr. (2 to 20 Gm.), in infusion or tincture. Externally as an anodyne or sedative in fomentation or poultice.

111. LUPULINUM, N.F.—LUPULIN. The granular powder separated from humulus, bright yellow, becoming yellowish-brown with age; mixed with minute scale particles; resinous; odor peculiar, aromatic, like hops, but stronger; taste bitter. Under the microscope each gland is seen to be composed of two reticulated hemispheres, one narrow and one round; the narrow one collapses on drying, giving to the granule a hood-shaped appearance. They are filled with an oleoresin, the volatile oil of which contains a trace of valerianic acid, and valerol, which passes into valerianic acid when kept a long time, causing the valerian-like odor of old hops— lupamaric acid, C₃₅H₃₅O₄.

ACTION AND USES.—Same as hops. Dose: 6 to 15 gr. (0-4 to 0.1 Gm.), in capsules or pills, the latter of which may be made by simply rubbing the powder with warm water until it becomes adhesive.

Fluidextractum Lupulini, Dose: 10 to 30 drops (0.6 to 2 Mils).

Oleoresina Lupulini, Dose: 3 to 6 drops (0.2 to 0.4 mil).

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.