Hedera.] araliace^. 223 



transverse section before maturity 6, or by partial abortion 3 cells, their parietes 

 membranous and double. 



1. H. Helix, L. Common Ivy. Leaves angulato-cordate 3 — 5 

 lobed, those of the flowering shoots ovate- acuminate, umbels 

 erect. Sm. E. Fl. i. p. 335. Br. Fl. p. 181. Lindl. Syn. p. 133. 

 E. B. xviii. t. 1267. Curt. Fl. Lond. fasc. i. 1. 16. Loud. Arbor. 

 Brit. 



On old walls, rocks and trees, in woods, thickets, and on hedgebanks ; every- 

 where most abundantly. i^A October, November. Fr. April. Tj. 



A resinous evergreen shrub, with a stout tortuous stem, ramifying over walls, 

 rocks* and trees, often to a vast extent, and adhering strongly to these objects by 

 numerous routing fibres emitted from the bark, or creeping along the ground in 

 woods and on hedgebanks without flowering, whence it was called by the older 

 authors " barren Ivy," and by them esteemed a different species (see Gerarde " of 

 Juy" and "the kindes.") In. this state the leaves are deeply cleft into 3 acute 

 lobes, of a dark green veined with white. In the more luxuriant shape, under 

 which we see it on tlfe " ivy-mantled tower," the stems constitute large bushy 

 heads of many ascending self-supported branches, flowering copiously at their 

 extremities. Leaves scattered, various in form and in the length of their smooth 

 petioles, broadly 3- or 5-lobed, often deltoid like those of the Black Poplar, some- 

 times obscurely angular and heart-shaped, of a rich shining green more or less 

 veined with while, most so on the extreme and smaller and creeping ramifications, 

 which are similar to the barren variety just mentioned : the change from the 

 lobed to the simple leaf becomes gradually more marked towards the termination 

 of the branches in the flowering shoots, when they are all more or less ovate 

 and quite entire. Stipules none. Flowers in spherical heads or umbels, that are 

 either solitary or disposed in a corymbose panicle, pale yellowish green, on downy 

 pedicels that have each a minute brownish bractea at the base. Sepals very 

 minute, brownish, acute. Petals inserted at the base of the germen, very broad 

 at ther origin, with a prominent central rib, strongly deflexed after full expansion. 

 Stamens inserted between the petals, widely spreading after discharging the pol- 

 len ; anthers yellow or partly purple, 2-celIed, bursting laterally. Germen very 

 broad, depressed, lobed or furrowed ; style extremely short, conical ; stigma very 

 minute, obtuse. Ovarium half-inferior, the ovules partly below the plane of inser- 

 tion of the petals. Berries black, the size of peas, obscurely quadrangular, crowned 

 with the perigynous disk, persistent style and minute calyx, 5-celled. Seeds 3 — 5 

 (rarely more, Sm.), oblong, plano-convex, vertical ; albumen large, in many ver- 

 micular folds. 



The glandular disk on the ovarium secretes a copious saccharine fluid, that 

 crystallises as a mealy efflorescence on its surface, and is probably a sugar sui 

 generis, less sweet than common sugar, but extremely soluble in water. Attracted 

 by this exudation, we may still perceive, in the faint beams of a November moon, 

 a few enfeebled insects, languishing rather than reposing on these honied blos- 

 soms, now the instrument of their destruction, from which they are unable to 

 escape. The mealy berries continue to grow through the winter, are ripe in April 

 or May, and are eaten by birds. 



The Ivy has been introduced into America as an ornamental creeper for cover- 

 ing the walls of houses, where I have seen it as far North as Boston. It thrives 

 well in the city of Philadelphia, but should be planted in that county only in a 

 North exposure, being liable in a southern aspect to have the shoots cut off by 

 the spring frosts at night, alternating with strong sun during the day, and this, 

 Professor Gray informs me, even as far South as Georgia. 



As a decorative evergreen, its heavy black foliage harmonises only with the old 



* Most profusely and luxuriantly clothing the precipitous faces of the rocks 

 along the Undercliff, and at East end, whore stems may be seen of a great age 

 and size. 



