181 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



he would have known that the little fibres by which the Ivy attaches itself to any 

 object are but suckers, not roots, and that inorganic substances are equally acceptable to 

 it for support as those which have life and vigour. Prospero calls his guilty brother — 



"The Ivy which had hid my princely trunk 

 And sucked my verdure out o'ut." 



Loudon tells us that under certain circumstances the warmth produced by a 

 covering of Ivy is favourable to vegetation— the only injury which it seems likely to 

 effect is that of compression on a growing tree. When a network of Ivy is formed 

 around the trunk of a tree and extends to the tender branches, they cannot expand, 

 and are sure to be injured. In this case the Ivy should be removed. Various opinions 

 are held as to the desirableness of Ivy as a covering for buildings. Where walls are 

 well built and not containing crevices large enough to admit of the fibrils becoming 

 roots, and of course increasing in size and rupturing the masonry, Ivy must be a 

 protection to the house from the weather and to the interior of the building from 

 cold and heat, though it has the disadvantage of keeping the walls damp. Loudon 

 gives a very decided opiuion, that unless the object be to show the architecture of an 

 ivied rain, its destruction will be accelerated rather than retarded by the removal 

 of the Ivy. As an ornamental plant Ivy is invaluable. It may be trained in every 

 variety of form and adapted to innumerable purposes. In large or small gardens it 

 forms clothing of a perpetual verdure. Trained against espaliers, lattice-work, wire 

 frames, or hurdles, it becomes a beautiful evergreen wall or screen. We seldom see 

 ivy-growing introduced iuto our rooms in England, but on the Continent it is frequently 

 planted in boxes or vases, and trained round a window or over a wire screen. Some- 

 times it is grown on espaliers parasol-shaped, and thus forms a sort of rustic canopy 

 for groups who like to sit under the shade. 



In small suburban gardens, Ivy attracts birds in the early spring by its berries, 

 and affords shelter for their nests. Ivy grows very quickly, a circumstance which 

 may be turned to great advantage in towns. Rooted plants of Irish Ivy placed in 

 good soil at the base of a wall 10 feet high, will reach its top in three years, and those 

 of the common Ivy in five years ; but after it has attained 15 or 20 feet, its growth is 

 comparatively slow. Although we now constantly introduce Ivy into our evergreen 

 church decorations at Christmas, there was an old prejudice against it, which is 

 alluded to in some of the old carols. We have already quoted one when writing of 

 the Holly, in which the Holly is praised to the disparagement of the Ivy, which is 

 said to be " alway sorrowing," and is told to " stand without the door, being full sore 

 a-cold." 



Many virtues were attributed by our forefathers to Ivy. Its fruit was regarded as 

 a specific for the plague and similar disorders, for which it was infused in vinegar. 

 The whole plant is aromatic, and a very fragrant resin exudes from the old stems 

 when bruised, from which is obtained the chemical principle hederine. Ivy was 

 at one time included in the British Materia Medica, as it was in that of the 

 Greeks, and still is in that of India. The berries are emetic and purgative, and 

 the resin, which is still used in India, is aperient and restorative. It has been used for 

 toothache with success. The leaves have a very unpleasant taste ; taken iuwardly 

 they act as aperient and emetic, but are likewise soporific. In Germany, according 

 to Haller, they are given to children when Buffering from atrophy. The juice is said 

 to cure headache when applied to the nostrils. A decoction of the leaves has been 

 used for dyeiug black. The wood when it attains a sufficient size is employed by 



