286 



THE IVY. 



ornamenting every garden. 



In the Himalayas it 

 is also very abund- 

 ant, producing yel- 

 low berries. This 

 variety is suppos- 

 ed to be the plant 

 which was held in 

 such high repute 

 among the Greeks 

 and Romans. 



No British plant 

 varies so greatly in 

 its habit at different 

 periods of growth 

 and in the shape 

 of its leaves as the 

 Ivy. In its infancy 

 it is a brittle, climb- 

 ing stem, furnished 

 with alternate three 

 or five-lobed leaves, 

 which are light 

 green, or of a red- 

 dish tinge, with 

 white ribs. As it 

 increases in size the 

 lobes of the leaves 

 become wider, and 

 the stem loses its 

 brittle character. 

 If it can find no 



support, it creeps 

 along the ground, 

 sending into the 

 earth, from the lower part of the stem, tufts of 



