English ivy has grown in popularity over the last few years as both an indoor and outdoor ornamental vining plant. While English ivy is very disease resistant, there are a few major diseases that ...will cause economic loss in production and landscape plantings. This 6-page document will assist residential or commercial property owners in identifying various English ivy diseases. Written by David J. Norman and G. Shad Ali and published by the UF/IFAS Plant Pathology Department, August 2018. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp339
Hedera helix (ivy) belongs to the genus Hedera of the Araliaceae family. The leaf of this plant has several active ingredients with medicinal uses. The active constituents of H. helix include ...monodesmoside α-hederin, hederacoside B, hederacoside C, and hederacoside D.H. helix leave have been used for the treatment of cough and respiratory problems, and now, other uses have emerged. As a medicinal plant, H. helix has been approved by the German Commission E due to its antispasmodic, spasmolytic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, antioxidative, antitumor, and antileishmanial activities. It comes with several formulations, including tablets, liquids, and topical ointments. In this review, we focus on the respiratory effects of tablet and liquid forms of H. helix.
Hedera helix L. is an important traditional medicinal plant in Europe. The main active components are triterpenoid saponins, but none of the potential enzymes involved in triterpenoid saponins ...biosynthesis have been discovered and annotated. Here is reported the first study of global transcriptome analyses using the Illumina HiSeq™ 2500 platform for H. helix. In total, over 24 million clean reads were produced and 96,333 unigenes were assembled, with an average length of 1385 nt; more than 79,085 unigenes had at least one significant match to an existing gene model. Differentially Expressed Gene analysis identified 6,222 and 7,012 unigenes which were expressed either higher or lower in leaf samples when compared with roots. After functional annotation and classification, two pathways and 410 unigenes related to triterpenoid saponins biosynthesis were discovered. The accuracy of these de novo sequences was validated by RT-qPCR analysis and a RACE clone. These data will enrich our knowledge of triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis and provide a theoretical foundation for molecular research on H. helix.
Two related species of Hedera spp. exist throughout Canada: English Ivy (Hedera helix L.) and Irish Ivy Hedera hibernica (G. Kirchn.) Bean. These species are difficult to distinguish taxonomically ...and clear distinctions are not always made in the literature, so we largely discuss them as a single taxon in this account. Ivy is an evergreen perennial with two distinct forms: woody vine (juvenile form) or shrub (adult form). In Canada, Hedera spp. are found naturalized along the southern coast of British Columbia (Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the Gulf Islands) and in southwestern Ontario. During the past century, ivies have greatly expanded their ranges along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America and in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and Hawaii. Ivy is physiologically plastic, invading both semi-open and deeply shaded forests. It forms a dense ground cover that can inhibit native vegetation. It grows up on tree trunks and competes for soil nutrients, frequently leading to tree damage or even tree fall. Invasive characteristics include its evergreen habit, persistence, and vegetative reproductive capabilities. Humans have accelerated the spread of ivy by planting it along highway embankments and medians to control soil erosion and through widespread sale as an ornamental plant. There is debate among horticulturalists and ecologists over the destructive and advantageous effects of ivy growth and sale within North America. Various methods of control (chemical, manual, biological, and integrated) may be used to manage this species, but more research is needed to design better control techniques.
Increasing CO2 concentration (CO2) is likely to affect future species distributions, in interaction with other climate change drivers. However, current modeling approaches still seldom consider ...interactions between climatic factors and the importance of these interactions therefore remains mostly unexplored. Here, we combined dendrochronological and modeling approaches to study the interactive effects of increasing CO2 and temperature on the distribution of one of the main European liana species, Hedera helix. We combined a classical continent‐wide species distribution modeling approach with a case study using H. helix and Quercus cerris tree rings, where we explored the long‐term influence of a variety of climate drivers, including increasing CO2, and their interactions, on secondary growth. Finally, we explored how our findings could influence the model predictions. Climate‐only model predictions showed a small decrease in habitat suitability for H. helix in Europe; however, this was accompanied by a strong shift in the distribution toward the north and east. Our growth ring data suggested that H. helix can benefit from high CO2 under warm conditions, more than its tree hosts, which showed a weaker response to CO2 coupled with higher cavitation risk under high temperature. Increasing CO2 might therefore offset the negative effects of high temperatures on H. helix, and we illustrate how this might translate into maintenance of H. helix in warmer areas. Our results highlight the need to consider carbon fertilization and interactions between climate variables in ecological modeling. Combining dendrochronological analyses with spatial distribution modeling may provide opportunities to refine predictions of how climate change will affect species distributions.
We combined dendrochronological and modeling approaches to show the potential consequences that interactions between increasing carbon concentration and changing climate can have on the future distribution of Hedera helix. Our results call for a strong development of methods able to cope with variable interactions and carbon fertilization to increase the accuracy of climate change and species distribution models.
English ivy (Hedera helix L.) is able to grow on vertical substrates such as trees, rocks and house plaster, thereby attaching so firmly to the surface that when removed by force typically whole ...pieces of the climbing substrate are torn off. The structural details of the attachment process are not yet entirely understood. We studied the attachment process of English ivy in detail and suggest a four-phase process to describe the attachment strategy: (i) initial physical contact, (ii) form closure of the root with the substrate, (iii) chemical adhesion, and (iv) shape changes of the root hairs and form-closure with the substrate. These four phases and their variations play an important role in the attachment to differently structured surfaces. We demonstrate that, in English ivy, different mechanisms work together to allow the plant's attachment to various climbing substrates and reveal the importance of micro-fibril orientation in the root hairs for the attachment based on structural changes at the subcellular level.
Background
English ivy (
Hedera helix
) is commonly used to reduce productive cough symptoms by acting as expectorant therapy. The safety of
Hedera helix
extract during pregnancy was not established ...yet. This study aims to determine the safety of English ivy leaf extract on newborns.
Objectives
To determine the weight, APGAR (Activity-Pulse-Grimace-Appearance-Respiration) score, and health status of the newborns among the studied groups.
Methods
A retrospective multicenter cohort study was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2020 on 245 pregnant women and their newborns in two hospitals located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The women were divided into an exposed group (
N
= 165) who used English ivy leaf extract syrup during pregnancy, and a control group (
N
= 80) who were not using any natural-pharmaceutical product for cough.
Results
The mean weight of the newborns in the exposed group was 3 kg compared to 2.8 kg in the control group (
p
-value < 0.05). The median APGAR score of the newborns in the exposed group was 8.5/10 compared to 8.0/10 in the control group (
p
-value > 0.05). There were no significant differences regarding the percentages of full-term and preterm newborns in the exposed and control groups (78.8% vs. 76.3%, and 21.0% vs. 24.0%, respectively, odds ratio OR = 0.86, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.45–1.63,
p
-value > 0.05). Regarding the newborns’ health complications reported, there was no statistical difference in the percentages of full-term newborns diagnosed with at least one health complication between the exposed and control groups (0.6 vs. 3.8, OR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.01–1.47,
p
-value > 0.05).
Conclusion
Hedera helix
(English ivy) leaf extract syrup was safe to be used in short term during pregnancy for the fetus.
Graphical abstract
Bio-inspiration for novel adhesive development has drawn increasing interest in recent years with the discovery of the nanoscale morphology of the gecko footpad and mussel adhesive proteins. Similar ...to these animal systems, it was discovered that English ivy (Hedera helix L.) secretes a high strength adhesive containing uniform nanoparticles. Recent studies have demonstrated that the ivy nanoparticles not only contribute to the high strength of this adhesive, but also have ultraviolet (UV) protective abilities, making them ideal for sunscreen and cosmetic fillers, and may be used as nanocarriers for drug delivery. To make these applications a reality, the chemical nature of the ivy nanoparticles must be elucidated. In the current work, a method was developed to harvest bulk ivy nanoparticles from an adventitious root culture system, and the chemical composition of the nanoparticles was analysed. UV/visible spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electrophoresis were used in this study to identify the chemical nature of the ivy nanoparticles. Based on this analysis, we conclude that the ivy nanoparticles are proteinaceous.
Root climbers such as English ivy (Hedera helix) rely on specialized adventitious roots for attachment, enabling the plants to climb on a wide range of natural and artificial substrates. Despite ...their importance for the climbing habit, the biomechanical properties of these specialized adventitious roots compared with standard roots and their performance in the attachment to different host species or inert substrates have not been studied. Here organs and tissues involved in the attachment are characterized and their significance in regard to a broader functional and ecological aspect is discussed. Depending on the substrate, the root clusters show different types of failure modes at various frequencies, demonstrating the close interaction between the climber and its substrates. With a Young’s Modulus of 109.2 MPa, the attachment roots are relatively stiff for non-woody roots. The central cylinders of the attachment roots show a high tensile strength of 38 MPa and a very high extensibility of 34%. In host trees naturally co-distributed with English ivy, a ‘balanced’ occurrence of failure of the attachment system of the climber and the bark of the host is found, suggesting a co-evolution of climber and host. Maximum loads of root clusters normalized by the number of roots match those of individually tested attachment roots. In comparison with most subterranean roots the properties and structure of the attachment roots of English ivy show distinct differences. There exist similarities to the properties found for roots ofGalium aparine, suggesting a trend in not fully self-supporting plants towards a higher extensibility.
Many advances have been made in the study of micro- to nano-scale attachment mechanisms in animals; however, little interest has been focused on identifying similar phenomenon in plants. In 2008, our ...group discovered that surfaces where ivy attached had uniform nanoparticles that were hypothesized to contribute to its amazing attaching strength. In this study, we visualized the secretion of adhesive from the root hairs of English ivy adventitious roots using a novel video microscopy apparatus. In addition, we were able to correlate the deposited adhesive with uniform nanoparticles through atomic force microscopy (AFM). This conclusively demonstrated that the nanoparticles were associated with the adhesive forming a natural nanocomposite. This discovery relays the importance of studying plant attachment for bio-inspiration of novel nano-scale attachment strategies.
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