Notes

Edera terrestris

Edera arborea

Edera arborea

Edera arborea (text)

Edera terrestris

Edera terrestris (text)

Hedera helix

Hedera helix

ivy to walls

Pliny xvi. 34, § 62.

ivy to walls

Hedera iam dicitur in Asia nasci. circiter urbis Romae annum ccccxxxx negaverat Theophrastus, nec in India nisi in monte Mero, quin et Harpalum omni modo laborasse ut sereret eam in Medis frustra, Alexandrum vero ob raritatem ita coronato exercitu victorem ex India redisse exemplo Liberi patris; cuius dei et nunc adornat thyrsos galeasque etiam ac scuta in Thraciae populis sollemnibus sacris, inimica arboribus satisque omnibus, sepulchra, muros rumpens, serpentium frigori gratissima, ut mirum sit ullum honorem habitum ei.

It is said that ivy now grows in Asia Minor. Theophrastus about 314 b.c. had stated that it did not grow there, nor yet in India except on Mount Meros, and indeed that Harpalus had used every effort to grow it in Media without success, while Alexander had come back victorious from India with his army wearing wreaths of ivy, because of its rarity, in imitation of Father Liber; and it is even now used at solemn festivals among the peoples of Thrace to decorate the wands of that god, and also the worshippers’ helmets and shields, although it is injurious to all trees and plants and destructive to tombs and walls, and very agreeable to chilly snakes, so that it is surprising that any honour has been paid to it.

lierre aux murailles

Lierre, Hedera helix L., hédéracée qui, par ses racines adventices, s’arroche aux vieux murs. «Inimica… omnibus: sepulcra, muros rumpens», dit Pline, XVI, 62. (Paul Delaunay)

le lierre

Voir Pline, XVI, 62 (EC).

ivy

ivy . Forms: ivi, yvi, yve, yvy, ivye, ivie, yvie, (ive), ivy. [Old English ífi, obscurely related to Old High German ebahewi, ebawi, ebah. The first element of these appears to be an Old Teutonic *iba, of which no cognates are known. The second element in Old High German is apparently hewi, Middle High German höu, German heu hay; Kluge suggests that Old English ífi may similarly go back to an earlier fhe. But no explanation appears of the connexion with `hay’.]

A well-known climbing evergreen shrub (Hedera Helix), indigenous to Europe and parts of Asia and Africa, having dark-green shining leaves, usually five-angled, and bearing umbels of greenish-yellow flowers, succeeded by dark berries; it is a favourite ornamental covering of walls, old buildings, ruins, etc. The plant was anciently sacred to Bacchus.

Used as a sign that wine was sold within; compare ivy-garland and ivy-bush. Obsolete