THE POET’S IVY

THE POET’S IVY

THE POET’S IVY

                                                       One kind has a black seed and another the colour of saffron.
                                                                               The latter is used by poets for their wreaths and its leaves are not so dark in colour.
                                                                              - Natural History of Pliny (AD 22-79)



                                                         So
                                                      prized,
                                              that it crowned
                                         the winners of poetry
                                      contests, Hedera poetica -
                                 elaborated in the eighteenth century
                          to Hedera poetica baccis luteis, The Yellow
                      Archipelagian Ivy—has since been downwardly
                      revised through Hedera helix ssp. poetarum and
                 Hedera helix var. poetarum to, within the last ten years,
                    the lowest botanical rank: Hedera helix f. poetarum.
                        Distinguished merely by dullish orange berries
                            and lightish green leaves, it is rarely sought
                                              and seldom offered.
                                                            P
                                                             o
                                                                e
                                                                    t
                                                                        s,



                                                               on
                                                            the
                                                        other
                                                        hand,
                                                       though
                                                  seldom sought,
                                     are as frequently encountered
                              as detachable from their lofty ambitions
                           as Hedera helix, the common hedgerow ivy,
                                             and its whole gallery of
                                           subspecies, varieties and
                                                           f
                                                            o
                                                              r
                                                                  m
                                                                       s.