[Home] [Nature Trail] [Archaeological Trail]
[Pictures Of Doon] [Sounds]

Ivy: hedera lelix.

An abundant wood climber, too slender to stand alone, it clings to trees or tall stone structures for support. During autumn and winter, it stays beautifully green and offers food and shelter to all kinds of wildlife, and to birds especially when other winter food might be scarce. It can grown to a height of 100ft.

Ivy does not entwine itself round its support. Instead, it produces numerous short roots along its stem, which possess adhesive discs for holding firmly to bark or stone. It does not live parasitically on its host tree as for example, mistletoe. Its roots are in the ground and it does not normally cause any damage to the tree.

Ivy has two types of leaves. the oval leaves of the climbing stem and the 3 - 5 lobed leaves of the flowering stem. In order to produce flowers it needs plenty of light.

The grey - green flower buds appear on the tips of the twigs from mid-summer onwards. These open into umbles of flowers in September. The yellow-green flowers have five sepals, petals and stamens. The flowers produce nectar and for many insects such as worker wasps, it is the last food of their lives. All these insects, including honey bees and moths, help with pollination. By the end of the year, many clusters of small, hard green berries have formed and during January and February, they slowly swell and turn black. Huge numbers of these berries are taken by wood pigeons, blackbirds, mistle thrushes, robins and other residents.

A great deal of ivy never finds anything to climb up. Instead it carpets the ground, sending out frail roots from the leaf axils.

Traditionally, ivy was associated with Christian rituals, and used to be as essential to religious decorations as holly is now, for it was credited with protective powers against witchcraft and other dangers.

In literature, ivy achieved popularity in the Romantic period, when it became associated with the owl-haunted ruins featured in so many novels and poems. It thus became a symbol for solitude and melancholy.

[The Rabbit] [The Badger] [Ivy] [Honeysuckle] [Moss] [Common Oak] [Pedunculate Oak] [Lichens] [Common Lime] [The Hedgehog] [The Bramble] [The Chiffchaff] [The Frog Hopper] [Hawthorn] [Tree Roots] [The Wood Mouse] [The Pigmy Shrew] [The Sycamore] [The Guelder Rose] [The Ash] [Gorse] [Hazel] [Tootworth] [Goat Willow] [The Rowan]
[Common White Beam] [Spindle] [Dog Rose] [The Blackthorn] [Birds] [Grasshoppers & Crickets] [Dragonfly & Damesify] [Feral Goat] [Silver Birch] [Pine Martin] [Fungi] [Lough Carra] [Brown Trout] [The Mute Swan] [The Otter] [Limestone] [Holly] [The Fox] [The Mighty Oak] [Common Polypody] [Treecreeper] [The Irish Stoat] [The Hornbeam] [Bats]

 

 

The Webmaster

Special thanks to Mayo-Ireland for hosting this page.