Since our parish newsletter does not have a wide circulation, I feel I am justified in plagiarising an article in the latest issue by its nature correspondent (my wife). She provides useful, or anyway, interesting information for Christmas decoration, with the preface that unless you wait until Christmas Eve before hanging up your greenery and be sure to take it down by Epiphany, every leaf will spawn a goblin:
I. Holly. Tradition holds that if the holly you bring in is smooth-leaved, the woman of the house will dominate. If it is prickly, the man will be in charge. The botanical fact, though, is that all berried holly is female. Many believe that it is bad luck to cut down an entire holly (cutting branches is fine). Round us in Sussex, this is said to be because hollies prevent witches from running along the hedge-tops. I knew a woodman once who told me he had cut down a holly in his hedge and found the fuel in his tractor turned to water. My wife also points out that holly was once used for making the white figures in chess sets, and suggests that, since ivory is disapproved, this should be revived.
II. Ivy. Ivy is libelled for strangling trees. Not so: it clings, but is not a parasite. It manufactures all its own nutrients. Only its weight is a problem for trees. Being late-flowering, ivy is helpful for insects which need nectar, and allows bees to top up their winter stores and provides winter berries for birds. The Holly Blue butterfly colonises both the holly and the ivy. It lays its eggs on holly flowers in the spring, and moves to ivy in the autumn.
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