Scientific name: Hedera helix L.
Common name: Ivy
Description
Habit: An evergreen, woody climber.
Stems: Climbing with short roots borne along climbing stems.
Leaves: Dark green, simple, glossy, up to 10 cm across with a few star shaped hairs; usually palmately 5-lobed and entire, but diamond shaped on the flowering stems.
Flowers: Green, hermaphrodite, in umbels; petals 5; stamens 5; style 1, ovary inferior.
Fruits: A black berry.
Habitat: Rocks, cliffs, hedges and woods.
Distribution: Abundant throughout.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No
Subspecies:
Hedera helix subsp. helix
H. helix subsp. hibernica
Subsp. hibernica differs from subsp. helix with its usually broader leaves, lobed less than half way to the base and its star-shaped hairs with their rays always appressed to the leaf-surface instead of appressed and outstanding.