''Hedera cypria'', is a species of

Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called 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 ...

(genus ''

Hedera ''Hedera'', commonly called 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 ...

'') which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

climbing plant, growing slowly to 20–30 m high where suitable surfaces 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 more common at higher altitudes in rocky, shadowy riverine forest, over 400–650 m. In its natural habitat it can be distinguished easily from ''Hedera helix'' subsp. ''poetarum'', also present, because the latter has yellow fruits, while ''Hedera cypria'' is always black-fruited. ''Hedera cypria'' does not resemble any other ivy into such a unique white patterns conspicuous grey veining, red stemmed. It is an attractive robust plant, growing slowly. It has alternate and small to medium ovate leaves, with a long petiole; there are two types of leaves, palmately five-lobed juvenile leaves on creeping and climbing stems, and unlobed lauroid adult leaves on fertile flowering stems. In this species, the juvenile leaves are almost unlobed with an isosceles triangle shape, and the green leave is blotched with a grid of leaf-nerves greenish-yellow to grey. ''Hedera cypria'' is closely related to ''

Hedera pastuchovii ''Hedera pastuchovii'', (Araliaceae) is a species of ivy native to eastern Transcaucasia and listed in ''The Red Book of the Azerbaijan SSR, 1989''. It is an evergreen woody climber, growing in mixed forests to 20–30 m high where suitable tre ...

.'' ''Hedera cypria'' is found on the island of Cyprus and ''H. pastuchowii'' is distributed in close proximity in Iran, Caucasus and Transcaucassus. The DNA analysis confirmed that they are not strongly separated but they must to be separated into distinct species, due largely to genetic differences that occur between other traits in the presence of distinct white markings over the veins in its young leaves as compared to less distinct white markings in young ''H. pastuchowii leaves'', coupled with greater vigour in ''H. cypria'' plants.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5697223

cypria The ''Cypria'' (; grc-gre, Κύπρια ''Kúpria''; Latin: ''Cypria'') is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but whic ...

Flora of Cyprus Endemic flora of Cyprus Plants described in 1993