"Amongst the rest the clambering Ivie grew Knitting his wanton armes with grasping hold, Least that the Poplar happely should rew Her brother's strokes, whose boughs she doth enfold With her lythe twigs till they the top survew, And paint with pallid greene her buds of gold." VIRGIL'S _Gnat_. Chaucer describes it as-- "The erbe Ivie that groweth in our yard that mery is." And in the same poem he prettily describes it as-- "The pallid Ivie building his own bowre." As a wild plant, the Ivy is found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but not in America, and wherever it is found it loves to cover old walls and buildings, and trees of every sort, with its close and rich drapery and clusters of black fruit,[132:1] and where it once establishes itself it is always beautiful, but not always harmless. Both on trees and buildings it requires very close watching. It will very soon destroy soft-wooded trees, such as the Poplar and the Ash, by its tight embrace, not by sucking out the sap, but by preventing the outward growth of the shoots, and checking--and at length preventing--the flow of sap; and in buildings it is no doubt beneficial as long as it is closely watched and kept in place, but if allowed to drive its roots into joints, or to grow under roofs, the swelling roots and branches will soon displace any masonry, and cause immense mischief. We have only one species of Ivy in England, and there are only two real species recognized by present botanists, but there are infinite varieties, and many of them very beautiful. These variegated Ivies were known to the Greeks and Romans, and were highly prized by them, one especially with white fruit (at present not known) was the type of beauty. No higher praise could be given to a beauty than that she was "Hedera formosior alba." These varieties are scarcely mentioned by Gerard and Parkinson, and probably were not much valued; they are now in greater repute, and nothing will surpass them for rapidly and effectually covering any bare spaces. I need scarcely add that the Ivy is so completely hardy that it will grow in any aspect and in any soil; that its flowers are the staple food of bees in the late autumn; and that all the varieties grow easily from cuttings at almost any time of the year. FOOTNOTES: [130:1] Sheep feeding on Ivy-- "My sheep have Honeysuckle bloom for pasture; Ivy grows In multitudes around them, and blossoms like the Rose." THEOCRITUS, _Idyll_ v. (_Calverley_). [132:1] "The Ivy-mesh Shading the Ethiop berries."--KEATS, _Endymion_. KECKSIES. _Burgundy._ And nothing teems But hateful Docks, rough Thistles, Kecksies, Burs, Losing both beauty and utility. _Henry V_, act v, sc. 2 (51).