1002 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



chimneys some feet higher, forming a striking object in May and June from 

 the public road. On a ruin, or on a dark pine tree, this variety, mixed with 

 the common sort, would have a fine effect, by the brilliant contrast which it 

 Mould produce. 



Geography. The ivy is a native of Europe, from the south of Sweden to 

 the Mediterranean Sea, and from Ireland to Siberia; but only in woods, and 

 under the shelter of trees and bushes, in either the colder or the hotter dis- 

 tricts of this extensive region. It is found in the north of Africa, the west of 

 Asia, the mountainous regions of India, and also in Japan and China, but not 

 in North or South America, or in Australia. The variety with yellow berries, 

 Royle informs us, " is the most common in the Himalayas, and may be seen 

 clinging to the rock, and clasping the oak ; affording, from its pleasing associa- 

 tions, glad recognition to the European traveller." (Must., p. 233.) In Britain, 

 the ivy is always found growing in a substantial soil, where it can be amply 

 supplied with nourishment, and where its roots can penetrate to such a depth 

 as to be able to obtain abundant moisture for the leaves, when the plant has 

 attained its greatest height, and is in a flowering state. 



History. The ivy was well known to the Greeks and Romans, and there 

 are many mythological and traditional allusions to it in the writings of Greek 

 and Roman authors. Its Greek names were Kissos and Kittos, from Kissos, or 

 Cissus, the name of a boy whom Bacchus is said to have changed into it. By 

 the Romans it was called Hedera ; which name has been adopted by modern 

 botanists. In old French its name is Hierre. It is mentioned by Gerard, as 

 growing in a wild state, and on the sides of houses; but it was probably not 

 propagated as a garden plant till some time afterwards, when towns extended 

 into the country, and it became a mark of refinement to create allusions to 

 the latter in the former, by planting such evergreens as would withstand the 

 close air and smoke of cities. The plant is now in general demand through- 

 out all those parts of Europe where it will grow freely against a wall ; but 

 more than any where in the neighbourhood of London. In North America, 

 in the time of Kalm, he found only one plant, which was trained against a 

 house, during the whole of his travels in that country ; but the principal 

 varieties are now propagated in all the American nurseries. 



Properties and Uses. 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 formerly 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 substance called 

 hederine, which is now in use in India, is said to be aperient, resolvative, 

 and balsamic. The berries, as already observed, are greedily eaten by 

 several birds. Sheep and deer are fond of the leaves and small branches, 

 which, before the introduction of green crops, afforded a useful resource 

 when the ground was covered with snow. Cato directs that, in a scarcity 

 of hay, or the dried shoots of trees, cattle should be foddered with the 

 green branches of ivy. The wood is soft and porous ; and, in Switzer- 

 land, and in other parts of the south of Europe, it is used by the turner ; 

 and, in thin slices, to filter liquids. The roots are employed by leather- 

 cutters to whet their knives on. Cato and Pliny attribute a singular 

 property to the wood of the ivy; and say that, by its filtrating powers, 

 it can separate wine from water. According to these authors, if a cup of 

 ivy wood be filled with wine that has been adulterated with water, the wine 

 will find its way through the pores of the wood, and the water alone 

 will remain in the cup. In the Nouvcau Du Harriet, it is mentioned that this 

 experiment was tried by a person worthy of confidence, and that he found 

 the very reverse take place; the water filtering through, and the wine 

 remaining in the cup. It is possible that something of the kind may take 

 place, which may be accounted for on Du Trochet's principles of Endosmose 

 and Rxosmote (see Gard Mag., vol. iii. p. 78.); but it is more probable that 

 the liquor merely exudefl through the pores of the wood, without any separa- 



