GROUND IVY 



Ground Ivy (Nepeta hederacea, Trev.' 



219 



The present distribution of Ground Ivy is the North Temperate 

 Zone in Europe, Siberia, Western Asia, as far east as the Himalayas, 

 and in America it is an introduced plant. It is not found with any 

 other plants in ancient deposits. In Great Britain it is more or less 

 universally distributed, but does not grow in Cardigan, Stirling, S. 

 Perth, North Ebudes, and in the W. Highlands in Ross only, and not 



GROUND IVY (Nepeta hederacea, Trev.) 



in the Northern Isles. In Northumberland, moreover, it ascends to 

 1300 ft. 



Every hedgerow is covered in spring with the trailing, creeping 

 Ground Ivy, which carpets the ground under the hedgerows along- 

 high ways and in fields. It grows on sloping banks, covering wide 

 spaces. It is also to be found in woods, though it prefers a hedge- 

 bank in the open facing the south and the sun. 



Ground Ivy, as the second Latin (and English) name implies, has 

 the habit of the Ivy, the trailing habit, rooting at intervals, with suberect 

 flower -stalks. The stem, which is smooth or hairy, is square and 

 slender, and branched. The leaves are egg-shaped, opposite, on long 

 leaf-stalks, kidney-shaped, scalloped, veined, the leaf-stalks furrowed 

 below. 



The flowers are purple or bluish-violet, or white or pink with spots, 



