The ivy league....

Ivy (Hedera helix), perhaps one of the most overlooked of plants in that it is so common place in the country and in urban areas, growing along the ground, up trees and shrubs or up any wall or post wherever it takes root. It is just there and not really noticed or remarked upon. In fact it is quite a complicated plant.

The are numerous variations in shape and colour of the plant's leaves depending on the pertaining environmental factors but there are basically two types of leaf as seen in the first three shots below. The more widely recognised leaves in the first two shots are the juvenile leaves on non-flowering stems, generally at the bottom of the plant and have 3-5 lobes. The mature leaves (third and fourth shots) have no lobes but can be wavy. They appear towards the top of the plant and carry the flowers.

The flowers appear at the top of the plant the light is good - woodland varieties and those creeping along the bottom of hedges do not flower. They are unremarkable at first glance but a closer look will reveal a quite handsome flower with 5 greenish petals and 5 yellow stamens. In Autumn they release abundant nectar and are visited by a wide range of insects - the caterpillars of the Holly Blue butterfly feed on the leaves. The berries appear later in Autumn at first as green nodules which increase in size and turn black - John Gerard records the berries as being ripe after the Winter Solstice.

Edible and medicinal uses

The plant has no edible use - the berries are poisonous. John Gerard recorded an infusion of water in which the leaves have been "steeped" as being a treatment for "...sore and smarting waterish eies [eyes]." Nicholas Culpepper recorded a number of uses for the flowers leaves and berries as treatments for lax and bloody flux, a prevention / treatment of the plague, a provocation of the urine and women's courses, problems of the spleen, ache or stitch, long standing headaches, old ulcers, burns and scalds.

More recently the use of the parts of Ivy has not been recommended as it can cause blood-cell destruction or if the berries are used externally skin blisters can result. However, an infusion of dry leaves in water can be used to treat gout, rheumatic pain, coughs and whooping cough. A warm compress can also be used to treat burns and cuts.

Folklore

There is quite a bit of folklore relating to Ivy...too much to relate here. This was often in conjunction with Holly, the medieval carol, The Holly and the Ivy, being an obvious and well-known example. There were also allusions to the ever present and ongoing battle between the sexes. The Holly, dominant and prickly, was the male plant. Ivy, clinging and compliant, was the female flower (not my interpretation I hasten to add!).

Ivy was sacred to Dionysus and Bacchus, the gods of wine. It was often hung outside inns or vintners to indicate that good wine could be had within. A trail of ivy leaves laid across a drunkard's path was though to bring him (or her??) to his senses. Ivy (as the feminine plant) was thought to bring good fortune to the women of a household. A leaf taken from the leftovers of church decorations apparently promoted the birth of twins. Ivy growing vigorously on a house was meant to protect the occupants from witchcraft and the evil eye. Conversely, if the plant withered it cold mean disaster for a household - infertility, lack of heirs or financial problems. There is more but I think you get the picture!

Shakespeare makes three references to ivy. In "A Winter's Tale" the Shepherd says, "They have scared away two of my best sheep; if anyhow I find them 'tis by the seaside browsing of ivy". Shakespeare twice draws similes from ivy. In A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act iv, Scene 1) Titania, when caressing Bottom, compared herself to "female ivy enringing the barky fingers of the elm". In The Tempest (Act i, Scene 2), Prospero said of his usurping brother, "He was the ivy which had hid my princely trunck and suck'd my verdure out on't".

Again, don't ask me to attempt to delve into the deep and dark thinking behind Shakespeare's usages here!