Hedera

For other uses, see Hedera (disambiguation).

"Hedera" redirects here. For the use of the term in typography, see Dingbat.

Hedera
Hedera colchica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Apiales
Family:	Araliaceae
Subfamily:	Aralioideae
Genus:	Hedera L.
Species
Hedera algeriensis – Algerian Ivy Hedera azorica – Azores Ivy Hedera canariensis – Canaries Ivy Hedera caucasigena Hedera colchica – Caucasian Ivy Hedera cypria Hedera helix – Common Ivy or English Ivy Hedera hibernica – Irish Ivy Hedera maderensis – Madeiran Ivy Hedera maroccana Hedera nepalensis – Himalayan Ivy Hedera pastuchowii – Pastuchov's Ivy Hedera rhombea – Japanese Ivy Hedera sinensis Hedera taurica

Hedera (Template:Pron-en; English name ivy, plural ivies) is a genus of 15 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to the Atlantic Islands, western, central and southern Europe, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan. On suitable surfaces (trees and rock faces), they are able to climb to at least 25–30 metres above the basal ground level.

Regional English common names for ivy include Bindwood and Lovestone (for the way it clings and grows over stones and brickwork).

True ivy must not be confused with Boston Ivy and to a lesser extent Virginia creeper, both of which are climbers which can grow up buildings, but which are deciduous rather than evergreen, and are quite unrelated to true ivy, both being of the grape family.

Description

Ivies have two leaf types, with palmately lobed juvenile leaves on creeping and climbing stems, and unlobed cordate adult leaves on fertile flowering stems exposed to full sun, usually high in the crowns of trees or the top of rock faces. The juvenile and adult shoots also differ, the former being slender, flexible and scrambling or climbing with small roots to affix the shoot to the substrate (rock or tree bark), the latter thicker, self-supporting, and without roots.

The flowers are produced in late autumn, individually small, in 3–5 cm diameter umbels, greenish-yellow, and very rich in nectar, an important late food source for bees and other insects; the fruit are small black berries ripening in late winter, and are an important food for many birds, though poisonous to humans. The seeds are dispersed by birds eating the fruit.

The leaves are eaten by the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera such as Angle Shades, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing, Scalloped Hazel, Small Angle Shades, Small Dusty Wave (which feeds exclusively on ivy), Swallow-tailed Moth and Willow Beauty.

Taxonomic note

The species of ivy are largely allopatric and closely related, and all have on occasion been treated as varieties or subspecies of H. helix, the first species described. Several additional species have been described in the southern parts of the former Soviet Union, but are not regarded as distinct by most botanists.

I have an 8 inch piece of "wood"

Toxicity

Although far less toxic than poison ivy, which is unrelated to this genus, ivy contains triterpenoid saponins and falcarinol, a polyyne. Falcarinol is capable of inducing an allergic reaction (contact dermatitis), although it has been shown to kill breast cancer cells as well.

Gallery

• 
  A tree covered by ivy at Monticello
• 
  Tempelherrenhaus Weimar
• 
  Hedera helix berries
• 
  Ivy growing on a brick wall
• 
  Hedera colchica flowers
• 
  Hedera colchica foliage
• 
  Hedera hibernica with berries
• 
  Hedera helix leaves
• 
  Variegated Ivy
• 
  Removing invasive English ivy in the Pacific Northwest

See also

• Boston ivy - also cultivated and may grow up walls
• Poison ivy - unrelated to this genus
• List of air-filtering plants

References

• McAllister, H. (1982). New work on ivies. Int. Dendrol. Soc. Yearbook 1981: 106-109.