Hedera helix Submitted by Nick Page, April 7, 2004 I was recently reading a thesis by Midori Murai on ivy invasion in the Pacific Northwest (Murai, M. 1999. Understanding the invasion of Northwest forests by English ivy (Hedera spp., Araliaceae). Unpublished master's thesis, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources. 82 pp.) The results of her work call into question our ubiquitous use of the name English ivy (Hedera helix) to encompass invasive ivy species in the Pacific Northwest. She notes: "Genetic analysis of invasive ivy... revealed that 83% of the 119 samples were derived from Hedera hibernica 'Hibernica', 13% from Hedera helix cultivars, and 1% from intermediate types". Her study included samples from a broad range of sites in Washington as well as 5 samples from Pacific Rim National Park. If her results are transferable to BC, it suggests we should be referring to ivy as Hedera spp. to cover the range of taxa. It seems like a small point but it would help in recognizing that invasibility varies between species or cultivars.
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Please cite these pages as: Author, date, page title. In: Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2012. E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [Date Accessed]
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