Spineless butcher's-broom

Description

Ruscus hypoglossum is a small evergreen shrub with a native range from Italy north to Austria and Slovakia and east to Turkey and Crimea. Common names include spineless butcher's-broom, mouse thorn and horse tongue lily. The mature plant shrub will eventually reach about 46 cm (18 in) in height. It has a creeping rootstock and leaf-like phylloclades or flattened stems that are about 8 cm (3 in) long to 4 cm (1+1⁄2 in) wide tapering at both ends. True leaves are smaller green appendages around the flowers. Small yellow flowers bloom in the axil of a leaf-like bract 2.5–3.8 cm (1–1.5 in) long on upper side of phylloclade. Plants are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants. Fruit is a rarely produced red globose berry 0.6 to 1.3 cm (0.25 to 0.5 in) wide.