English Ivy
BUSH INVADER
Hedera helix
family: ARALIACEAE
Description
- A dense, evergreen creeper and climber from Europe, hardy, vigorous, perennial, and woody. Clings by means of stem roots and has distinct juvenile and adult forms of growth. All parts of this plant are poisonous.
- Leaves are dark glossy green and tough. Juvenile leaves are lobed, mature leaves are more rounded.
- When Ivy reaches the top of its support it produces mature bushy growth and stops climbing and spreading. It then produces flowers and fruits.
- Clusters of small greenish-yellow flowers are followed by round succulent blue-black berries, autumn and winter.
Dispersal
Birds eat the berries and excrete the seeds, often in bushland. Ivy also spreads vegetatively, by rooting at leaf nodes. It is also spread by garden rubbish dumping.
Impact on Bushland
Blankets the ground in moist sheltered areas, prevents germination, excludes light, harbours disease, damages and brings down mature trees, changes the ecosystem.
Distribution
Throughout the Blue Mountains.
Alternative Planting
Native Plants
Old Man's Beard (Clematis aristata)
Twining Purple Pea (Hardenbergia violacea)
Milk Vines (Marsdenia suaveolens,
M. flavescens, M. rostrata)
Native Violet (Viola hederacea)
Control
Do not pull off trees, as serious damage to bark may result.
Dig out or cut and paint major roots; cut through smaller roots from leaf nodes.
Scrape and paint stems.
English Ivy causes tree death, and transforms the ecosystem into one dominated by weeds.
The leaves of English Ivy are dark glossy green, tough and dense.
Flowers are small, greenish- yellow clusters, and very attractive to European honeybees.
Ripe English Ivy fruit are black and succulent; notice the mature leaves without lobes.
English Ivy invades moist sensitive bushland, excluding light and preventing germination.
