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Hedera helix

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Apiales Family: Araliaceae Genus: Hedera

English ivy

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Woody vines, creeping or climbing by adventitious roots, secretory canals present in most parts.

Stems: Tips of young branches often pubescent with whitish 5–6–branched, stellate hairs.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades of sterile branches broadly ovate, 3–5–lobed, 4–10 cm long. those of fertile branches ovate to rhombic, entire. Base of leaves of sterile branches cordate. base of leaves of fertile branches obtuse to truncate. Margins shallowly lobed but otherwise entire. Petioles base often broad and sheathing the stem. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in simple terminal umbels or racemes of umbellules. Inflorescence often pubescent with whitish 5–6–branched, stellate hairs. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Pedicels often jointed below the ovary. Calyx a truncate rim or 5-toothed; often pubescent with whitish 5–6–branched, stellate hairs. Corolla of 5 petals, valvate. Stamens 5; alternate with the petals, distinct, inserted at the edge of the epigynous nectary disk. Ovary inferior, 5-carpellate, surmounted by a convex disk; carpels connate (rarely pseudomonomerous), with as many cells; ovules pendulous, 2 per cell, 1 abortive; styles as many as carpels, connate into a short stylopodium; stigmas sessile.

Fruit: Drupes dark purple at maturity; exocarp fleshy; pyrenes cartilaginous or membranous; often laterally compressed; globose; 5–8 mm long; the disk depressed–convex. Seeds 3–5 per fruit.

Ploidy: 2n = 43–48; 96

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Kaua'i Naturalized
O'ahu Only found in cultivation
Maui Naturalized
Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents

Birds

Vegetative Reproduction

Pollinators

Notes

  • Description digitized by Pumehana Imada
  • Native from Europe to the Caucasus Mountains, widely cultivated as an ornamental since ancient times; in Hawai‘i cultivated at least since the early 1900s and now very sparingly naturalized on Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, and Hawai‘i. Numerous horticultural forms and s

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 202 (1753)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:228 (K, O, H); Starr et al. 2003:24 (EM); Staples & Herbst 2005:133 (DESCR); Faccenda, Arthur, et al. 2025:156 (remove O [no evidence of nat.])

Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R., & Sohmer, S. H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i, Vols. 1 and 2 (No. Edn 2). University of Hawai'i and Bishop Museum Press.

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Description Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Hedera helix East Maui, Kula, old Kula Hwy Preserved_Specimen Vine; fruit blue-black, round. Starr, F. 104191 Maui BISH 2001-04-19
2 Hedera helix East Maui, Makawao District, at the top of Olinda Rd Climbing in Eucalyptus trees well beyond any obvious plantings. Associated vegetation: Pine plantations, Eucalyptus sp., Ulex europaeus, Kikuyu grass. Preserved_Specimen Vine, 3-4m up tree trunk; foliage green, traditional style ivy. No fruits or flowers observed, though cultivated plants in Kula do set fruit. Starr, F. 12181 Maui BISH 2000-12-18
3 Hedera helix Honolulu; Star Market Garden Purchased. Preserved_Specimen Lvs deeply palmately lobed, lobes usually 5, slender. Staples, G.W. 951 Oahu BISH 1994-07-19
4 Hedera helix Honolulu; Star Market Garden Purchased. Preserved_Specimen Lvs obtusely, shallowly lobed, or nearly entire, apex rounded. Staples, G.W. 952 Oahu BISH 1994-07-19
5 Hedera helix East Maui, Makawao District, Piiholo, just below jct w. Olinda Rd Crawling over ground and climbing up trees to 10m ht. Associated vegetation: Eucalyptus spp., Pinus spp. Preserved_Specimen Perennial vine with stems that attach to bark & other things. Young growth like regular ivy, margins ruffly. Growth of leaves w/o fruiting parts heart-shaped. Fruiting branches erect. Fruits in panicles, round w. pointed tips, green aging to black. Starr, F. 110261 Maui BISH 2001-10-26
6 Hedera helix Captain Cook; Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens; abandoned coffee plantation at one side of Garden In yard of house; in deep shade & also climbing shrubs & tree trunks. Preserved_Specimen sterile groundcover. Stems & leaves have curious curly-crisped texture. Rounded. Herbst, D.R. 9303 Hawaii BISH 1991-01-11
7 Hedera helix W Maui, Lahaina District, Kaulalewelewe, near Haelaau Cabin Growing on and near the cabin. Preserved_Specimen New growth with pale to light tan stellate hairs; no flowers or fruits ever observed. Oppenheimer, H.L. 40102 Maui BISH 2001-04-01
8 Hedera helix East Maui, Kula, old Kula Hwy Preserved_Specimen Vine; fruit blue-black, round. Starr, F. 104191 Maui BISH 2001-04-19
9 Hedera helix Puna; Volcano In Degener's tree-fern forest. Preserved_Specimen Degener, O. 32461 Hawaii BISH 1970-07-23
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