Hedera canariensis Willd.

Growth Form

Hedera canariensis Willd. is an evergreen perennial woody plant that grows as a climbing, trailing shrub, bush, or ground cover. Where vertical surfaces such as trees, cliffs, or walls are available, it reaches 20–30 m in height; it forms ground cover when no vertical surfaces are present.

Climbing Mechanism

It climbs using aerial rootlets that cling to its growing substrate.

Growth Rate

In warm climates, it grows and becomes established faster than the related species H. hibernica and H. helix.

Native Distribution

This plant is endemic to the Canary Islands, where it is quite common, especially in the Barbusano laurel forest.

Leaf Characteristics

Its leaves are broad, measuring 5 to 20 cm across, glossy dark green, slightly leathery, with 1-5 lobes that are regular in size and shape.

Human Uses

It is cultivated in gardens and used in floral arrangements.

Flowers and Fruits

Its flowers are greenish, and its ripe fruits are globular and black.

Stem Coloration

Young stems are green or greenish-brown, sometimes tinged with red or purple, and turn grey or grey-brown when the plant matures.

Habitat Colonization

As an evergreen climbing plant, it can grow from the bottom of ravines and river canyons to cover entire cliff or wall surfaces.

Maximum Length

It climbs with adventitious roots and can reach up to 50 meters in total length.

Native Habitat

This ivy is adapted to laurel forest, a type of cloud forest habitat.

Relict Status

Like other ivies, it is a relict plant, one of the surviving members of the laurisilva (laurel forest) flora of Europe.

Tertiary Floral History

This ancestral laurisilva flora originally covered most of the Mediterranean Basin during the Tertiary era, when the region’s climate was more humid.

Pleistocene Forest Decline

Around ten thousand years ago, at the end of the Pleistocene era, Mediterranean laurisilva forests disappeared as the Mediterranean Basin’s climate became harsher and drier.

Current Laurisilva Range

Today, laurisilva forest only persists in moderated-climate oceanic and island enclaves, including the North Atlantic Macaronesian islands.

Genus Evolution Pattern

Ivies are opportunistic species that occur across wide distributions, with few close relatives; this pattern indicates recent divergence of the group.

Seed Dispersal

Hedera seeds are spread by birds.

Species Relatedness

Hedera species from Macaronesian islands, northern Africa, and Europe are closely related.

Taxonomic Revision History

Until recently, researchers thought all these populations belonged to a single species, Hedera helix, but recent studies show they are several separate species that differ mainly in microscopic details of bud hairiness.

Speciation Mechanism

Speciation in the genus Hedera is the product of vicariance, which formed after the geographical range of a more widespread common Tertiary ancestor became fragmented.