THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLANT. 



soil which attracts the ivy to rocks and bridges and woods. One of the most rich 

 and varied displays of ivies in these islands is to be found in the Vale of Conway 

 and its continuation through Bettws to the Conway Falls, or, to enlarge the 

 field, let us say the whole of the woodland country on the easternmost spurs of 

 Snowdonia. Another grand ivy garden is Matlock Dale, and its continuation, 

 Darley Dale, where, indeed, the plant varies but little in its characters, but 

 frequently attains to a rich and luxuriant growth on the faces of the tors and the 

 skirts of woodlands. 



The attachment of the plant to buildings is a matter of equal interest to the 

 naturalist and the poet. The reason of its frequent occurrence on the mountain 

 limestone and kindred formations, is the reason also of its adherence to edifices 

 new and old, and its magnificent appearance when man's work has been crushed 

 beneath the heel of Time, and become "the Ivy's food at last." In all these cases it 

 is encouraged by its proximity to cretaceous or calcareous substances. Its tender 

 stem-roots pierce the substance of the rock, or the cement that holds bricks and 

 stones together, and the plant derives assistance from the object it adorns. The 

 majority of these root-stems shrink into tough holding fibres, but some of them 

 become veritable roots, striking deep into the substance of the fabric to help the 

 plant while it continues rooted in the earth, but ready to sustain it altogether 

 whenever any accident shall cut off its original source of sustainment. Hence the 

 difference in the growth of the plant when it quits the sylvan scene and becomes a 

 mural tapestry. In the woods it is usually of a deep green colour, often exqui- 

 sitely netted, and sometimes dusted with obscure tones of grey and yellow ; but it 

 never, or at least most rarely, acquires any decided variegation. But on the old 

 fortress and the ruined abbey it presents a variety of the most brilliant colours, 

 the combined effect of full exposure to light and unfailing supplies of calcareous 

 food. In either case, however, it is one of the most sportive plants in all the 

 world, cross fertilisation taking place without the aid of man's directing skill, and 

 producing results that the cultivator could not even hope for, though he might 

 devote the energies of a life in artificially fertilising and raising seedling ivies. 



" By contemplating these forms 



In the relations which they bear to man, 



He shall discern, how, through the various means 



Which silently they yield, are multiplied 



The spiritual presences of absent things." x 



1 Wordsworth's " Excursion," Book IV, 





