IVY (AS. ifig, OHG. ebarvi, ebalr, ebaheiri, Ger. Epheu, of uncertain origin). A name ap plied to a number of climbing, creeping, and trailing plants, among them the English or com mon ivy, Boston or Japanese ivy, Virginia creep er, ground-ivy, and poison-ivy. The common ivy (Hedera Helix) is a well-known native of En lope, rare in the northern countries, which has been extensively introduced into the United States. Its long, creeping, branched stem, which climbs on trees and walls to a great height, and closely adheres to even very hard substances by means of abundant rootlets which it develops along its whole length, acquires in very aged plants the thickness of a man's neck. Its five lobed, shining, stalked, evergreen leaves, clothing bare walls with green luxuriance, serve to throw off rain, and the rootlets of the stein extract moisture from the walls to which they cling, con trary to a common prejudice that ivy tends to produce dampness in walls. It injures trees principally by constriction. The flowering branches of ivy have ovate, entire leaves, very different from the others. Its small greenish flowers are produced in the beginning of winter, and the small black berries are ripened in the following year. The berries are eagerly eaten by many birds, although they have a pungent taste, and contain a peculiar bitter principle called hederin and an acid called hederic acid, which are also found in a gummy exudation obtained by in cisions from the stem and occasionally used in varnish-making and in medicine as a depilatory and a stimulant. In Egypt the ivy was sacred to Osiris, in Greece to Baechus (Dionysus), whose thyrsus was represented as surrounded with ivy: the Romans mingled it in the laurel crowns of their poets.
Several varieties of ivy are planted for orna mental purposes, of which that generally known in Great Britain as Irish ivy and on the Euro pean Continent as English ivy is particularly esteemed for its large leaves and luxuriant growth. It is said to he a native of the Canary
Isles. Ivy grows readily from cuttings. Redera untbellifera, referred by some botanists to Os moxylon ainboinense, a native of Amboyna, is said to produce a finely aromatic wood; and Hedcra terebinthinacea, by some botanists called Hcptapleuratn stellatunt, a Ceylonese species, yields a resinous substance which smells like turpentine. The Boston or Japanese ivy (This inconstans or Anyelopsis trieuspidata) and the Virginia creeper hecleracea or Ampelop sis quinquefoliu) belong to the same natural order as the grape. They are shrubby, hardy ornamental climbers, cling by tendrils opposite the leaves, and are especially attractive in their autumnal coloration. The Boston ivy has three lobed or trifoliate leaves, the Virginia creeper five leaflets upon rather long petioles. The Bos ton ivy clings closely to walls, is of rapid growth, and is one of the best hardy vines for city grow ing. The ground-ivy (Yepeta Meehan:a) is a plant of the mint family that trails over the ground. The poison-ivy or poison-oak (Rhus Toxicodendron) somewhat resembles the Virginia creeper in the appearance of its leaves, and is sometimes mistaken for it. Its leaflets, how ever, are three in number, and are not palmately arranged upon a common leafstalk. This plant possesses an irritant poison, and bathing the affected parts in an alcoholic solution of lead acetate is highly recommended as a remedy. Ac cording to some botanists, the name Rhus Toxi codendron should be applied to a small southern shrub, and Inas radirans to the common form. The German ivy (Gynoxys eardifolia, or Settecio scandens) is a plant belonging to the family Compositre.