24 May 2024

If you drink beer you’re familiar with the flavor of hops which is used as a bittering, flavoring, and stability agent in beer. Depending on the variety, hops can also add floral, fruity, or citrus flavors and aromas.

The hops plant itself, Humulus lupulus, is a perennial vine (*) that vigorously twines itself around uprights and strings in the hopfield.

To do so it uses to a motion called Circumnutation.

Circumnutation refers to the circular movements often exhibited by the tips of growing plant stems, caused by repeating cycles of differences in growth around the sides of the elongating stem.

— Wikipedia: Nutation (botany) account

The wrapping happens slowly, but if you speed it up here’s what it looks like.

(*) Doug Gross pointed out that in the hops-growing world these are called “bines” because they don’t have tendrils.