1000 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



ft. I. H. He'lix L. The common Ivy. 



Identification Lin. Sp., 292. ; Dec. Prod., 4. p. 261. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 391. ; Baxter's Brit. Fl. PI., 



p. 32. ; Lodd. Cat., ert. 18.36. 

 Derivation, //elix is derived from eileo, to encompass, or turn round ; in reference to the clasping 



stems, _which, however, are not twining. 



Spec. Char., SfC. Stems climbing, throwing out roots from their sides to any 

 object next which they may be placed. Leaves coriaceous, glabrous, 

 shining, with 5 angular lobes ; those on the old upright and rectangular 

 branches, which form the tops of the plants, ovate, acute, quite entire. 

 Umbels simple, pubescent. (JDoii's Mil/., iii. p. 391.) A native of Europe. 



Varieties. De CandoUe has enumerated three forms of this species, which 

 are independent of the varieties cultivated in British gardens : — 



i- H. H. 1 vuigdria Dec. (Eiig. Bot., t. 1267.; ^^fe 755 



and our^g. 755.) has the pedicels clothed 

 with stellate down, and the fruit black. 

 This is the commonest form of the ivy, 

 throughout Europe, in a wild state; and 

 there are varieties of it with white and 

 yellow variegated leaves, in gardens. 



fi- H. H. 2 canaricnsis Dec; H. canariensis (^/^ 

 Wilhl. Berol. Mag., ii. p. 170. t. 5. f 1. ; \^ 

 the Irish Ivy, or Giant Ivy, of British 

 gardens ; has the pedicels scaly with 

 pubescence. Floral leaves subcordate ; 

 those of the creeping branches 5-lobed 

 and larger than those of the common ivy. 

 Fruit ? red, or black. A native of the 

 Canary Islands ; but the year of its in- 

 duction into Britain is uncertain. 



fl_ H. H. ?3 chrysocurpa Dec, H. poetica C. Bauh., H. chrysocarpos 

 Dalech., H. Z>ionysias ./. Bank., H. He\\\ Wall., is a native of the 

 north of India, with yellow fruit. It differs from the common ivy 

 in its yellow fruit, and in being of more gigantic growth ; in the 

 leaves being more cuneated at the base ; and in the pedicels being 

 scaly. There is a plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden. 

 The varieties in British gardens, additional to the above, are: — 



fl- H. H. 4 foliis argcntcis Lodd. Cat. The .f/Vrc; -striped Ivy. 



fl- H. H. 5 foliis aureis Lodd. Cat. The Golden-?,iT\\)e(l Ivy. 



fl- H. H. 6 digitdta Lodd. Cat. The palmate, or hand-shaped, Ivy 



fl- H. H. 7 arborcscens Lodd. Cat. The arborescent, or Tree, Ivy. — This 

 variation is merely an extension of the flowering shoots, which are 

 entire-leaved, and take an arborescent character ; and, when a portion 

 of them is cut off, and has rooted as a separate plant, it will sometimes 

 produce an upright bush, which will retain its arborescent form for 

 many years. Sooner or later, however, it resumes its native habit, 

 and throws out rambling, or creeping, shoots, with 5-lobed leaves, 

 like the common ivy. 



Description. The common ivy is a rooting climber : but, when these roots 

 are opposed by a hard substance which they cannot penetrate, they dilate, 

 and attach themselves to it, by close pressure on the rough particles of its 

 surface. The dilatation of the fibril is sometimes so considerable as to form a 

 disk above a quarter of an inch in diameter ; and this dilatation is greater or 

 less, in proportion to the roughnesss or smoothness of the surface which it 

 presses against : because, when the surface is nearly smooth, the projecting 

 points, to which alone the disk of the fibril can attach itself, must necessarily 

 be small, and not such as to afford a firm hold ; and hence a greater number of 

 them are required to be included under each disk, to sustain the weight of the 

 plant. On very smooth surfaces, such as that of a house or a wall that has 



