< -s wild Irish ivy, and our British floras do not afford any information respecting it. 



V J^ The Asiatic ivy is Hedera colchica, C. Koch. It is not found out of Asia, and 

 may be known by its uppermost leaves being elliptical, or lanceolate, its umbels 

 arranged in simple racemes, and its pedicels and calyx being covered with yellowish 

 two-lobed scales, the lobes being opposite each other, and divided into seven or 

 ten segments. Our first knowledge of this plant is derived from Kaempfer, who 

 two centuries ago found it in Japan, where it is called * Fotogi Isa' (i.e. Simulacri 

 seu idoli Hedera). It was afterwards gathered by Wallich and other collectors in 

 the Himalaya mountains, by Fortune in Northern China, by Wright in the Loochoo 

 Islands, and by C. Koch in the Trans- Caucasian countries. Wallich was the first 

 to describe the plant, though he did not venture to separate it from H. Helix ; in 

 fact, the important character furnished by the scales escaped him. It was not 

 until 1859 that C. Koch, who had seen it wild, named it colchica, and gave a 

 correct diagnosis of it. It is owing to an authentic specimen kindly transmitted 

 by him that I am able to identify this new species with the Asiatic ivy as I am 

 indebted to the Rev. R. T. Lowe for a sight of the Madeira ivy. Hedera colchica 

 is now an inmate of our gardens, it having been found on the Caucasian coast of 

 the Black Sea by Mr. Rongner, formerly curator of the botanic gardens of Odessa. 

 Thus it found its way into our gardens, occurring here and there under the (I 

 believe unpublished) name of Roegneriana. The only two popular accounts of this 

 plant are given by Wallich and C. Koch. In Nepal it is called Sagooke or Gooke (i.e. 

 the climber), and is, says Wallich, ' one of the most common as well as the most 

 jfl noble productions of Nepal, where it grows to a majestic size, and extends over 

 trees and rocks.' In Trans- Caucasia, on the contrary, it is more stunted than the 

 European ivy, having reached its western geographical limit ; and, says C. Koch, 

 ' I have never seen it ascend the tops of the numerous beeches of that country, 

 whilst the common ivy climbed to the highest branches.' Though there are 

 several important peculiarities to distinguish the three species, the most ready way 

 to make sure of them is to look at the character furnished by the hairs and scales. 

 They are largest in H. Helix, where they may be seen distinctly with a common 

 pocket lens ; but in the other two species it requires a greater magnifying power to 

 make their nature quite intelligible." 1 



In a paper on the classification of ivies, communicated by the author to the 

 Linnaean Society in 1869, the reputed difference of the stellate hairs of Hedera 

 helix and Hedera canariensis were assumed to be sufficient to distinguish them as 



