Hedera canariensis
Encyclopedia
Hedera canariensis is a species of Ivy
(genus Hedera) which is native to the Atlantic coast in Canary islands and northern Africa. Its common name is the Canarian Ivy.
climbing plant, growing to 20–30 m high where suitable surfaces (tree
s, cliff
s, wall
s) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate. In warm climates, grows more rapidly and becomes established a good bit faster than the related H. hibernica, and H. helix.
It is an evergreen
climbing plant, shrub
or bush
perennial, with aerial roots. It growing to 20–30 m high where suitable surfaces (tree
s, cliff
s, wall
s) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate. It is quite common in Canary islands and lives in slope
s rock, soil, trunks of tree
s especially in Laurel forest
of Barbusano
.
The leaves of Hedera canariensis are small, greenish, gathered in large numbers in umbrella
s, and the fruit
s, globular and black when ripe. Stem
s are green or greenish-brown, sometimes tinged with red or purple. This plant has broad leaves, 2 to 8.5 inches and a little leather
, with 1-5 lobes small, regular in size and shape. Over time it was cultivated in gardens and used in floral arrangements.
leaves that grow from the bottom of the ravines and river canyons lining the entire surface of the wall or cliff. Ivy climbs with adventitious roots and reaches up to 50 meter in length.
Ivies are plants adapted to the laurel forest
, a type of cloud forest
habitat. European Ivy for example, is believed was spread by birds that helped to colonize large areas again where it had disappeared during the glaciations.
Laurus nobilis and Ilex aquifolium are widespread relics of the laurisilva
forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin
when the climate of the region was more humid. Ivy also is a relict plant and one of the survivors of the laurel forest
flora in Europe tertiary
era. Disappeared during the glaciations, laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean have disappeared approximately ten thousand years ago at the end of the Pleistocene
era, when the Mediterranean Basin became drier and with a harsher climate. Today laurisilva forest persists in some continental and islanders enclaves and Macaronesia
islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, which has moderated these climatic fluctuations.
The ecological requirements of the species, are those of the laurel forest
and like most of their counterparts laurifolia in the world, it is vigorous species with a great ability to populate the habitat that is conducive. Ivy responded to favourable climatic periods and expanded across the available habitat. Ivy occur as opportunistic species across wide distribution with close relatives and few species, indicating the recent divergence of this species. The extant Ivy species of this group are relatively young. Seeds are spread by birds. Fruits are black and fleshy.
The Hedera genus has led to endemic species on islands, but not so widespread geographically as in the past.
The species related from northeast Atlantic come from a species living in wet temperate areas and more distributed in the Tertiary.
The patterns of speciation in the Hedera genus, where Canarian Ivy belong, indicate that since the onset of aridification on the continent, it diversified in species with the majority of species the product of vicariance
. The fragmentation of once more continuous area facilitated isolation of populations and this likely caused the increase in the rate of speciation as found in the Hedera canariensis and related species.
In macaronesian islands Hedera canariensis arose from a common ancestor of laurisilva
in the Mediterranean area. The islander Hedera of Macaronesia
in the eastern Atlantic, norther African Hedera and european Hedera are closely related species. Until recently it was thought there was a single species (Hedera helix), but recent studies have shown that there are several species that differ mainly by microscopic details of the hairiness of the buds. The name of Hedera canariensis and the name of the other Hedera species come from Latin patronymic where the other species was described also.
Ivy
Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...
(genus Hedera) which is native to the Atlantic coast in Canary islands and northern Africa. Its common name is the Canarian Ivy.
Description
It is an evergreenEvergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
climbing plant, growing to 20–30 m high where suitable surfaces (tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s, wall
Wall
A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air...
s) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate. In warm climates, grows more rapidly and becomes established a good bit faster than the related H. hibernica, and H. helix.
It is an evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
climbing plant, shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
or bush
Bush
-Nouns:* Shrub, a type of woody plant, smaller than normal trees. Usually grows in the soil. Most bushes are low to the ground and have branches which rise up from the bottom of the plant....
perennial, with aerial roots. It growing to 20–30 m high where suitable surfaces (tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s, cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s, wall
Wall
A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air...
s) are available, and also growing as ground cover where there are no vertical surfaces. It climbs by means of aerial rootlets which cling to the substrate. It is quite common in Canary islands and lives in slope
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
s rock, soil, trunks of tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
s especially in Laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
of Barbusano
Apollonias
Apollonias is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes from one to ten species of evergreen trees and shrubs from laurel forest habitat mainly in Macaronesian islands.-Description:...
.
The leaves of Hedera canariensis are small, greenish, gathered in large numbers in umbrella
Umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a canopy designed to protect against rain or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun; umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain...
s, and the fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s, globular and black when ripe. Stem
Stem
-Science:* Plant stem, the above ground structures that have vascular tissue and that support leaves and flowers Also see similar:**Stipe **Stipe * Stem cell...
s are green or greenish-brown, sometimes tinged with red or purple. This plant has broad leaves, 2 to 8.5 inches and a little leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
, with 1-5 lobes small, regular in size and shape. Over time it was cultivated in gardens and used in floral arrangements.
Ecology
They are able to rise above the surface of trees and rocks, more than twenty or thirty meters above ground level. They are climbing plants with evergreenEvergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
leaves that grow from the bottom of the ravines and river canyons lining the entire surface of the wall or cliff. Ivy climbs with adventitious roots and reaches up to 50 meter in length.
Ivies are plants adapted to the laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
, a type of cloud forest
Cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and...
habitat. European Ivy for example, is believed was spread by birds that helped to colonize large areas again where it had disappeared during the glaciations.
Laurus nobilis and Ilex aquifolium are widespread relics of the laurisilva
Laurisilva
Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroide type...
forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin
Mediterranean Basin
In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation...
when the climate of the region was more humid. Ivy also is a relict plant and one of the survivors of the laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
flora in Europe tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
era. Disappeared during the glaciations, laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean have disappeared approximately ten thousand years ago at the end of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
era, when the Mediterranean Basin became drier and with a harsher climate. Today laurisilva forest persists in some continental and islanders enclaves and Macaronesia
Macaronesia
Macaronesia is a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde...
islands in the North Atlantic Ocean, which has moderated these climatic fluctuations.
The ecological requirements of the species, are those of the laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
and like most of their counterparts laurifolia in the world, it is vigorous species with a great ability to populate the habitat that is conducive. Ivy responded to favourable climatic periods and expanded across the available habitat. Ivy occur as opportunistic species across wide distribution with close relatives and few species, indicating the recent divergence of this species. The extant Ivy species of this group are relatively young. Seeds are spread by birds. Fruits are black and fleshy.
The Hedera genus has led to endemic species on islands, but not so widespread geographically as in the past.
The species related from northeast Atlantic come from a species living in wet temperate areas and more distributed in the Tertiary.
The patterns of speciation in the Hedera genus, where Canarian Ivy belong, indicate that since the onset of aridification on the continent, it diversified in species with the majority of species the product of vicariance
Vicariance
Vicariance is a process by which the geographical range of an individual taxon, or a whole biota, is split into discontinuous parts by the formation of a physical barrier to gene flow or dispersal. Vicariance of whole biotas occurs following large-scale geophysical events such as the uplift of a...
. The fragmentation of once more continuous area facilitated isolation of populations and this likely caused the increase in the rate of speciation as found in the Hedera canariensis and related species.
In macaronesian islands Hedera canariensis arose from a common ancestor of laurisilva
Laurisilva
Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroide type...
in the Mediterranean area. The islander Hedera of Macaronesia
Macaronesia
Macaronesia is a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde...
in the eastern Atlantic, norther African Hedera and european Hedera are closely related species. Until recently it was thought there was a single species (Hedera helix), but recent studies have shown that there are several species that differ mainly by microscopic details of the hairiness of the buds. The name of Hedera canariensis and the name of the other Hedera species come from Latin patronymic where the other species was described also.