

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANT. 



21 



they were made, namely, the support of the climbing branches, but not as means 

 of absorbing sustenance for the maintenance of its vitality." l Dr. Hooker describes 

 the plant as "climbing by adhesive rootlets," and thereby hits the truth more 

 nearly than the authors above quoted, or a score more that might be quoted. For 

 a first essay to determine the point the plant must be frequently examined during 

 the early part of the summer, when the " root-like processes " will be found to be 

 soft, whitish, almost pellucid, variable in size, but always suggestive of a pointed 

 tooth. Very gently do they thrust their way into crevices of bark, or brick, or 

 stone, and there take firm hold, and soon after shrink into tough hair-like fibres, 

 severally weak, but collectively strong, and holding the flattened stem so close and 

 firm to its support that the ivy is always as safe as the wall itself. If, while the 

 claws are tender and pellucid, we cut a portion of the stem, and lay it on a surface 

 of damp moss in a shady place, it will 'be found that the claws begin immediately 

 to lengthen into true roots, and ramify through the moss in search of nutriment ; 

 and, if left alone, will soon sustain the cutting as an independent plant. What 

 shall we say of this experiment, but that it proves the "tufted fibres" to be 

 (in the language of the "Vestiges") true roots that have been arrested in the 

 process of development. 



It is impossible to proceed far in the observation of ivies without making 

 the discovery that it is as often an aerial as a terrestrial plant. It can live 

 and thrive without roots in the earth ; and wherever there is a grand old wall 

 or ruin much clothed with ivy, it will be quite an easy matter to find detached 

 pieces, sometimes vast sheets, sometimes mere single sprays that have been 

 cut off by accident or the hand of man from connection with the earth, and 

 that evidently prosper in their isolated condition. One of the most interesting 

 examples of this aerial growth may be seen at Hadleigh Castle, near Southend, 

 in Essex. On the old walls of Conway there are hundreds of detached ivies ; 

 and to avoid waste of space in a mere enumeration it may be said that who- 

 ever will seek for true aerial growths will very soon find them. But how is it to 

 be accounted for, that if we find an ivy on a wall or tower, and sever the stem 

 near the ground so as to cut off all supplies of nourishment from that below, 

 the ivy still lives ? The answer is, that the claws are true roots, which are usually 

 arrested in development, but are fully developed when circumstances are favour- 

 able, and penetrate far into the masonry that supports the plant to provide for 

 it, whenever an accident shall result in isolation. 



1 " Florigraphia Britannica," I. p. 331. 



