IVY IN THE COPSE. 



shade ; therefore it wants to utilize to the 

 uttermost every inch of space and every 

 ray of sunlight. So it clings close to the 

 soil or to its upright support, and lays its 

 leaves out flat, each occupying its own 

 chosen spot of earth without encroaching 

 on its neighbour's demesne, and none ever 

 standing in the light of another. That 

 shows one at once the secret reason for 

 the angular foliage : it is exactly adapted 

 to the ivy's habitat. All plants which grow 

 in the same way, half trailing, half climbing, 

 have leaves of similar shape. Three well- 

 known examples, each bearing witness to 

 the resemblance in their very names, are 

 the ivy-leaved veronica, the ivy-leaved cam- 

 panula, and the ivy-leaved toad-flax. Or 

 look once more at the pretty climbing 

 ivy-leaved geranium or pelargonium, so 

 commonly grown in windows. Contrast all 

 these angular leaves of prostrate creepers 

 with the heart-shaped or arrow-headed 

 foliage of the upright twining or tendril- 



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