Hops Flower

After trying to do some research on this, I think it is a male hops flower which, I gather, is held in severe disdain by beer makers who only use female flowers for their brews.

[Janet]

So that is what they look like. My husband's cousin grows his own to make beer. I always thought they looked something like a pinecone.

[Joanne Diochon]

I think the female ones (which are what the beer makers want )do look sort of like pinecones. I'm not sure exactly how this sex things wirks for hops vines but, while trying to figure out what these were I stumbles across a site used by beer brewers to exchange tips etc. and discovered the disgust they felt when their vines produced these 'useless male flowers' rather than the female flowers they wanted.
The world is so full of all kinds of esoteric knowledge of which I will only ever scratch the surface!