{"id":1204,"date":"2020-11-30T16:41:31","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T16:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2020-12-12T12:04:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T12:04:09","slug":"adventbotany2020-day-1-ivy-hedera-helix-l","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2020\/11\/30\/adventbotany2020-day-1-ivy-hedera-helix-l\/","title":{"rendered":"#AdventBotany2020 – Day 1 Ivy, Hedera helix<\/i> L."},"content":{"rendered":"

Alastair Culham<\/a> & Dawn Bazely<\/a><\/h2>\n

The first ever post for #Adventbotany was short entry on Ivy by Alastair Culham<\/a>.<\/h3>\n

1st day of #AdventBotany<\/a> \u2013 Hedera helix<\/em> \u2013 highly variable evergreen leaves symbolize eternity and resurrection. Ivy has a distinctive waxy sheen to the upper surface f the leaf. It\u2019s reputed to keep witches away if you grow it up a house wall. Long associated with mid-winter festivals including Christmas because it stays green even in this cold dark season. All leaves in the first photo are from a single plant while each from the second is from a different taxon!<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Day<\/a> \"Each <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ivy contains falcarinol<\/a>, a natural fungicide.<\/p>\n

Each day during advent there will be a new entry by @RNGherb or @DrMgoeswild (since when we have added many other authors!)<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note:<\/h4>\n

From Dr Stephen Jury \u2013 The first new molecular systematic studies on ivy were done in Reading by Dr Pablo Vargas on a post-doc appointment.\u00a0 He continues this work as a member of staff in Madrid. He solved some problems and agreed with McAllister\u2019s earlier unaccepted treatments that are now accepted in a book, following several important publications in botanical journals!<\/p>\n

McAllister, H. & Marshall, R., (2017) Hedera<\/em>: the complete guide<\/a>. Peterborough, RHS.<\/p>\n

Since that blog, as with some other privileged species, a new article was added, this time by Dawn Bazely<\/a>, a regular contributor.<\/h3>\n

The first Advent Botany post, on December 1st<\/sup>, 2014, was about ivy, that most classic of British festive season species. English Ivy,\u00a0as it\u2019s known in North America (Hedera helix<\/em>) is an evergreen woody climbing plant.\u00a0 It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and it was introduced to North America as a garden plant, where it promptly jumped over the fence. Ivy is considered invasive in Washington State<\/a>, USA and in British Columbia<\/a>, Canada. It also does very well in my Toronto front garden.<\/p>\n