Ivy
Ivy
Hedera helix
Common names: Common Ivy, Ivy.
Location: Common to most of Europe, Scandinavia, Spain, Ukraine, Northern Turkey, and Western Asia. Invasive and destructive in parts of the United States and Australia.
Description:
A vine-like evergreen climbing plant that can grow upwards of 20-30 meters high along fences, walls, cliffs, and trees or as ground cover. It attaches to the climbing surface by means of aerial rootlets that cling to the substrate. The plant has alternate leaves that are between 50-100 mm long, with 15-20 mm petiole, found in one of two types – palmately 5 lobed juvenile leaves on creeping/climbing stems, or as unlobed cordate adult leaves on fertile flowering stems usually high in the crowns of trees or atop cliffs. Ivy flowers from late summer to autumn with individual small 3-5 cm diameter umbels, greenish yellow, with substantial nectar that attracts pollinating insects. Ivy bears fruits that are purple-black to orange-yellow berries approximately 6–8 mm diameter that ripen in late winter.
Culinary Uses:
Berries are edible to some animals, poisonous to humans. Common Uses: Used in landscaping as an ornamental. Great for attracting wildlife from deer to birds.
Medicinal Uses:
In Ancient and Historic times, Leaves and berries were taken orally as an expectorant to treat coughs and bronchitis even though the berries are poisonous to humans. John Gerard, the British herbalist, in 1597 prescribed water infused with ivy leaves as a eye wash for sore or watery eyes. Leaves are known to cause dermatitis in some people.
