| Photo Information |
| Copyright: Valentina CM (happy_tooth) (0) |
| Genre: Plants |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2007-05-13 |
| Categories: Flowers |
| Exposure: f/3.5, 1/60 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2007-05-13 4:40 |
| Viewed: 1326 |
| Points: 0 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Hedera helix
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Apiales
Family: Araliaceae
Genus: Hedera
Species: H. helix
Binomial name
Hedera helix
L.
Hedera helix (species name from Ancient Greek "twist, turn"), also called Ivy, Common Ivy, or English Ivy is a species of ivy native to most of Europe and southwest Asia. It is an evergreen climbing plant, growing to 20-30 m high where suitable surfaces (trees, cliffs, walls) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It holds on to tree bark and rock by means of short adhesive rootlets.
The leaves are alternate, 4-8 cm long, with a 3-10 cm long petiole; they are of two types, with palmately five-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 flowers are produced from late summer until 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.
It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant, with numerous cultivars selected for such traits as yellow, variegated or deeply lobed leaves, purple stems, and slow, dwarfed growth. |
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