H ED 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H ED 



657 



6. Hebenstreitia Fruticosa; SJimbliy HtbeHStrcitia. Leaves 

 hinceolate, toothed, smooth ; bractes entire.; stem shrubby. 

 Native of the Cnpe. 



7. Hebenstreitia Aurea; Golden-flowered Hebenstreitia. 

 Leaves somewhat cylindrical, obtuse, entire; spikes smuoth, 

 formed of beautiful golden-coloured Mowers, variegated with 

 deep orange, very fragrant in an evening. Native of the 

 Cape. It may be increased by cuttings, which, if taken off 

 in May, will become flowering plants in September. 



Hedera; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 pynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : involucre of a 

 simple umbel, very small, many-toothed; perianth very small, 

 five-toothed, surrounding the germen. Corolla: petals five, 

 oblong, spreading, with the tips bowed inwards. Stamina: 

 filaments five, subulate, upright, of the same length with the 

 corolla; anthers trifid at the base, incumbent. Pistil: 

 germen turbinate, surrounded by the receptacle; style sim- 

 ple, very short; stigma simple. Pericarp: berry globular, 

 one-celled. Seeds: five, large, gibbous on one side, angular 

 on the other. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Petals: five, 

 oblong. Kerry: five-seeded, surrounded by the calix. The 

 different species of Hedera are easily propagated by the 

 trailing branches, which send forth roots their whole length ; 

 or by cuttings planted on a shady border in autumn, which 

 by tlie following autumn will be fit to plant where they are 

 designed to remain ; or by seeds sown after they are ripe, 

 which is in the beginning of April : if these be kept moist 

 and shaded, they will grow the same spring, otherwise they 

 will remain a year in the ground. The species are, 



1. Hedera Helix; Common Ivy. Leves ovate and lobed, 

 alternate, evergreen, glossy, smooth. The trunk in old trees 

 is covered with an ash-coloured chopped bark ; in the young 

 branches it is of a green or purple colour. The petioles a.re 

 long, and dilated at the base. The flowers are yellowish, or/ 

 greenish-white, in a very close thick umbel, at the extremities 

 of the twigs. The berry is placed below the receptacle of 

 the flower, and is crowned with the five-cornered streaked 

 rudiment of it; at first it is succulent, with a puiple juice, 

 afterwards it becomes coriaceous, dry, and very obscurely 

 q-uinquangular. The seeds are wrinkled and yellowish. The 

 wood is soft and porous, so as to transmit liquids if turned to 

 a sufficient degree of thinness. In its variegated state it 

 sometimes appears almost white. The roots are used by 

 leather-cutters to whet their knives upon. The branches, 

 being very full of leaves, are as effectual as any thing to pro- 

 tect the tender blossoms of Apricots, Wa-ches, and Nectarines, 

 against the cold winds and frosts of February and March. 

 As a medicine it is scarcely admitted irto modern practice. 

 The leaves have a nauseous taste. Hullcr says, they are given 

 in Germany as a specific in the atrophy of children. Com- 

 mon people apply them to issues and corns. The berries 

 have a little acidity; and, when taken inwardly, purse and 

 vomit. In Galicia they give the st't-d* bruised in pleurisies, 

 to the quantity of two tea-spoonsfid every eight hours. In 

 warm climates a vesinous juice exudes from the stalks, or may 

 be procured by wounding thorn: it is insipid and inodorous, 

 but inflames in burning, with a pleasant aromatic smell, and 

 then has a slight astringency. It tinges spirit of wine of a 

 reddish brown colour, and is said to be aperient, resolutive, 

 and balsamic: but it is not in use. Country people apply 

 the berries to issues, to increase the discharge. Meyrick 

 informs us, that a decoction of the leaves destroys vermin in 

 the heads of children, and heals the soreness which they 

 occasion. An infusion of the berries is frequently found 

 tcrviceable in rheumatic complaints, and is reported to have 

 cured the dropsy. The juice snuffed up the nose occasions 

 VOL. i. 55. 



a pretty considerable discharge of mucus and watery humours 

 from the head. In the latter part of the 17th century, when 

 it was the fashion to fill gardens with all sorts of sheared 

 evergreens, many of these plants were trained into round 

 heads, clipped into globes, cones, &c. and, being so hardy 

 as not to be injured by weather, and growing in any soil, 

 were then much esteemed : since this taste has been exploded, 

 the Ivy is seldom admitted into gardens, unless to cover 

 walls, or to run over ruins, for which purpose no other 

 plant is so well adapted. Mr. Curtis, however, observes, 

 that few people are acquainted with the beauty of Ivy when 

 suffered to run up a stake, and at length to form itself into a 

 standard ; the singular complication of its branches, and the 

 vivid hue of its leaves, give it one of the first places amongst 

 evergreens in a shrubbery. In woods, when suffered to grow 

 large and rampant, this plant, by twining round the botiirs 

 of timber-trees, does them great damage, and therefore should 

 be carefully destroyed, as it easily may be by cutting any 

 where through its trunk. But in ornamental outlets, where 

 evergreens do not abound, a few trees covered with Ivy have 

 a very pleasing effect, and induce birds of song to haunt 

 those thickets for the sake of the berries and shelter. It 

 produces very picturesque effects in large masses of ruined 

 buildings : but that it is injurious to them, cannot be denied, 

 when we consider that it must harbour wet and filth, ami 

 that the branches will make their way into any fissure or 

 defect in the wall, and enlarge it. It is a parasitical shrub; 

 and while fixed to any support, or left to trail upon the 

 ground, the stalks are slender and flexible; but when ithae 

 reached to the top of its support, they shorten and become 

 woody, forming themselves into large bushy heads. As long 

 as the stalks are suffered to trail, Ivy does not produce any 

 flowers ; a-nd in this state it is called Barren or Creeping 

 Ivy; but when the branches get above their support, ttoey 

 produce flowers at the end of every shoot; these are suc- 

 ceeded by berries, formed into round bunches, called by the 

 ancients Gorymbi, and turning black before they are ripe. 

 In this state it is called Climbing or Serried Im/.ls. is 

 found wild all over Europe; but Liunc-ns informs us it is by 

 no means common in Sweden. Kaltn remarks, that he never 

 saw the Common Ivy in North America, except once agaiwst 

 a stone building, and that it \vas apparently brought from 

 Europe, and planted ilv.>re. Thunberg observed it inJapan, 

 and says that the leaves are commonly undivided there, and 

 not lobed. It begins to flower with us in .September,, awd 

 is much resorted to by bees and flies, when little other food 

 is to be had. The berries increase during the winter, art 

 full formed in February, and ripen in April; famishing fod 

 for wild pigeons, blackbirds, thrushes, and other birds- in 

 the spring. Sheep are fond of Ivy, which is a warm and 

 wholesome food for them in hard weather; and therefore n 

 snowy seasons the shepherds cut down the boughs 'for tbwr 

 flocks to browze on, which is a very ancient practice. 



2. Hedera Cap! tata ; Cluster-flowered Ivy. LeaTes etlif-- 

 tical, entire; racemes compound, terminating ; flowers ses- 

 sile, in little heads; stem arborescent, eight feet high in the 

 stove, erect, cylindrical, abruptly branched; bark .bcown, 

 a little cracked ; branches curved upwards, leafy, tertmnattd 

 by flowers, which are numerous, white, and so small that -the 

 structure is not readily to be understood ; each stands on 'its 

 proper involucre, resembling a calix of^one leaf, in five divi- 

 sions, externally powdery, permanent. This fine plant was 

 discovered by Jacquin in the woods of Martinico. 



3. Hedera Quin((uefolia; Five-lemvd Ivy. Leaves quinat\ 

 ovate, serrate; racemes trifid, twice dichotomous, fine, urn- 

 belled ; eHx very short, bKintly toothed, red at tip; 



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