Ivy \I"vy\, n.; pl. Ivies.
         [AS. [imac]fig; akin to OHG. ebawi,
   ebah, G. epheu.]
         (Bot.)
   A plant of the genus Hedera (Hedera helix),
         common in
   Europe. Its leaves are evergreen, dark,
         smooth, shining, and
   mostly five-pointed; the flowers
         yellowish and small; the
   berries black or yellow. The
         stem clings to walls and trees
   by rootlike fibers.
  
         [1913 Webster]

         Direct
         The clasping ivy where to climb.         --Milton.
   [1913
         Webster]

         Ye myrtles brown, with ivy never sere.   --Milton.
   [1913
         Webster]

   American
         ivy. (Bot.) See {Virginia
         creeper}.

   English
         ivy (Bot.), a popular name in
         America for the ivy
      proper (Hedera helix).

  
         German ivy (Bot.), a
         creeping plant, with smooth,
         succulent
      stems, and fleshy, light-green leaves; a
         species of
      Senecio ({Senecio
         scandens}).

  
         Ground ivy. (Bot.)
         Gill (Nepeta
         Glechoma).

   {Ivy
         bush}. (Bot.) See Mountain laurel, under Mountain.
    
          

   Ivy owl (Zool.),
         the barn owl.

   Ivy
         tod
         (Bot.), the ivy plant. --Tennyson.

   Japanese ivy
         (Bot.), a climbing plant (Ampelopsis tricuspidata),
         closely related to the Virginia creeper.
      

  
         Poison ivy (Bot.), an
         American woody creeper ({Rhus
     
         Toxicodendron}), with trifoliate leaves, and
     
         greenish-white berries. It is exceedingly poisonous to the

              touch for most persons.

   To pipe in an ivy leaf,
         to console one's self as best one
      can. [Obs.]
         --Chaucer.

   West Indian ivy, a climbing plant of the
         genus
      Marcgravia.
      [1913
         Webster]