Ivy
Hedera helix
It does not kill what it climbs. It simply outlasts it.
Overview
Ivy is the plant that inherits. Give it time and it will cover the wall, the ruin, the abandoned building, the grave. It does not strangle — that is a persistent myth — but it is patient in a way that reads, depending on your temperament, as either comfort or menace. It is evergreen when everything else has given up and gone bare. The flowers, opening in October when almost nothing else is flowering, are a lifeline for ivy bees, hornets, and the last butterflies of autumn. The berries ripen through winter and are eaten by birds when little else remains. Ivy is the plant that stays when the others leave, and in every northern European tradition this quality of persistence has been read as protective — or as the persistence of something that should, perhaps, have moved on.
Botanical Notes
A vigorous, woody, evergreen climber or ground-covering plant with two distinct growth phases: juvenile, with the familiar three- to five-lobed leaves and clinging aerial rootlets; and adult, occurring on mature stems, with entire, oval leaves and bearing umbels of small, yellow-green flowers in October, followed by round black berries ripening in spring. Found throughout Europe in woodland, hedgerows, walls, and buildings, on most soils. The aerial rootlets attach to surfaces by adhesion, not penetration — ivy does not damage sound masonry, though it exploits existing cracks. Berries and leaves contain saponins and falcarinol; the sap of adult plants is a contact irritant.
Lore & History
Ivy was sacred to Dionysus — Greek revellers wore it as garlands to prevent drunkenness, a belief either optimistic or strategic. Roman taverns hung ivy branches above their doors as a sign, giving rise to the saying "good wine needs no bush." In the English carol tradition, the holly and the ivy stand in opposition: holly masculine and Christian, ivy feminine and older, the argument between them ancient enough that its origins are unclear. In folk tradition, ivy growing on a house was protective; ivy dying unexpectedly on a house was an omen. Ivy was one of the plants used to decorate homes at midwinter — alongside holly and mistletoe — long before those decorations were given Christian names.
Warnings
The berries are toxic — containing hederagenin and other saponins that cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and central nervous system depression. Attractive to children in winter when little else is bright. The sap of adult ivy causes contact dermatitis in many people, particularly when working with mature plants; wear gloves. The juvenile form — the familiar houseplant — is less irritating but should still be kept away from pets and children. Do not consume any part internally.