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Please credit: Reprinted with permission from The American Ivy Society.

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Pierot System of Classification

The system was developed by Suzanne Pierot in her work, The Ivy Book, The Growing and Care of Ivy and Ivy Topiary (Macmillan, 1974), (Garden by the Stream,1995). The eight-category system classifies leaf shapes found among ivy as follows. Note: cultivars may fall into more than one category. The American Ivy Society has adopted this system as a consistent and convenient way to identify ivy.


Click on the images to see actual size individual leafs. 

 Variegated Ivies (V): Multicolored leaves of green or gray with white, yellow or light green markings or single colors other than green.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Lady Frances'

Bird's Foot Ivies (BF):
Leaves with narrow lobes: they resemble a bird's track in the snow.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Plume d' Or'

 

 Fans (F):
Leaves very broad and
fan-shaped with lobes of equal length or
the lobes of unequal length but all forward-pointing and the veins prominently raised above the leaf surface.
e.g. Hedera helix 'California Fan'

Curlies (C):
Leaves with ruffles, ripples, or pleats.

e.g. Hedera helix'Dragon Claw'

Heart-shapes (H):
Leaves that are valentine - or shield shaped.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Teardrop'

Miniatures (M):
Miniatures should have leaves that are one inch or less in length. The plants are delicate or refined in appearance.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Spetchley'

Ivy-Ivies (I):
Leaves typical of ivy with pronounced terminal, lateral, and basal lobes.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Walthamensis'

 
Actual size leaf not avalble at this time.

 Adult (A):
Plants which have lost their vining juvenile habit and have stiff, upright stems, or nearly so; they are capable of flowering. The leaves of adult plants are usually unlobed.

e.g. Hedera helix Adult 'TomBoy'

 

 Oddities (O):
Plants of unusual form, such as upright or non-vining (but not flowering), or plants that have fasciated, asymmetrical or distorted leaves, or flattened and compacted stems, or both.

e.g. Hedera helix 'Congesta'

All Photos © 2002 Rachel Cobb.

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