IVY 55 
lock, Jack-jump-about, Jeelico, Keck, Kecks, Keks, Kex, Trumpet 
Keck, Kelk-Kecksy, Water Kesh, Kewsies Kesk, Skytes. 
The first name is for oat-shooters. Children shoot oats through 
the hollow stems as peas are shot through a pea-shooter. Parkinson 
says: ‘In Sussex they call the wilde kinde (of Angelica) Kex, and 
the weavers winde their yarne on the dead stalks”, It is called 
Trumpet Keck because the hollow stems of this plant are made by 
boys into trumpets. 
“Trumpet-kecks are passed unheeded by 
Whose hollow stalks inspired such eager joy.” 
This plant was considered especially noisome to witches. It was 
called Herb of the Holy Ghost from the angel-like properties therein 
being considered good “against poisons, pestilent agues, or the pesti- 
lence”. Angelica was used as a cure for bites of dogs and hydro- 
phobia, as well as an antidote for poisons. A yellow dye of a good 
colour is derived from it. The stems are candied with sugar and 
used as sweetmeats or put in cakes. The root and the fruit have been 
utilized as a tonic, and are aromatic and stimulant. 
EssENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
130. Angelica sylvestris, L.—Stem tall, ribbed, hollow, purple, 
downy, leaves bipinnate, leaflets ovate, serrate, flowers in large umbels, 
whitish-pink, carpels 5-ribbed. 
Ivy (Hedera Helix, L.) 
This is an ancient plant found in Interglacial and Neolithic beds. 
The present distribution is Europe, N. Africa, W. Asia as far east as 
the Himalayas, in the North Temperate Zone. Ivy is found in every 
part of Great Britain, and ascends to 1500 ft. in Yorkshire. 
There are two forms of Ivy which favour different habitats. The 
trailing ‘‘Ground Ivy” is fond of growing upon banks, under hedges, 
or in woods and thickets, where it covers the ground like a carpet and 
occasionally finds an upright support, and may be seen to merge into 
the other type. This is essentially a climbing plant, and is found by 
the roadside encircling in parasitic fashion the trunk of an ash or elm, 
or in the open fields or in woods. It is especially common in gardens, 
and is very often found on walls and houses. 
One irresistibly connects Ivy with a climbing habit, and such is its 
most marked feature. It may attain the dimensions of a tree, with 
thick cracked bark, and be provided on the inner side with fibres, 
