Flora-Fauna

Hedera helix L.

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXLVII nº 3; 1970. First published in Species Plantarum: 202, 1753)

• Life-form & habit: Evergreen woody climber or creeping shrublet, often with a strong, long-lived woody base; climbing by adventitious aerial rootlets and capable of reaching c. 20 m when growing on old trees, shaded rocks or walls. Mouterde describes it as a climbing shrub with a sometimes very robust base and great longevity.

• Leaves: Alternate, persistent, coriaceous and glossy, markedly polymorphic. Leaves of sterile climbing or creeping shoots usually angular and 5-lobed; leaves near the flowering branches ovate-rhomboid, less lobed or nearly entire. Venation palmate, blades dark green and shining above, paler beneath.

• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowering shoots erect or spreading, bearing compound, paniculate umbels. Inflorescence pubescent with stellate hairs. Flowers small, greenish; calyx with 5 very short, broad triangular lobes; petals 5, lanceolate, light green and caducous; stamens 5; disk convex.

• Fruit: Berries globose to turbinate, black at maturity, crowned by the remains of the calyx lobes; pyrenes ovoid-triquetrous, each with a single ovate seed.

• Phenology: Flowers in autumn and winter; fruits usually mature from winter to spring.

• Habitat & elevation: Rocks, old walls and tree trunks, especially in shaded or wooded places. In Lebanon and Syria, Mouterde notes that it is rare below 500 m.

• Lebanese distribution: Recorded by Mouterde from Beyrouth A.U.B., probably not spontaneous; Tripoli; ‘Araya; Ghazir; Bikfaya; Dlepta; Salima; Boq‘ata; Chemlan, cultivated; Fnaidé; the forest of Ehden; Qannoubine; and Ta‘naïl, cultivated.

• Native range: Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Islands, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, Norway, Northwest Balkan Peninsula, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, and Ukraine.

• Introduced range: Alabama, Alaska, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Juan Fernández Islands, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Morocco, New Jersey, New Mexico, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Queensland, South Australia, South Carolina, Tasmania, Tennessee, Utah, Victoria, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Western Australia, and Wisconsin.