Ruscus aculeatus

Species of shrub

Ruscus aculeatus, known as butcher's broom,

is a low evergreen dioecious Eurasian shrub, with flat shoots known as cladodes that give the appearance of stiff, spine tipped leaves. Small greenish flowers appear in spring, and are borne singly in the centre of the cladodes. The female flowers are followed by a red berry, and the seeds are bird distributed, but the plant also spreads vegetatively by means of rhizomes. It is native to Eurasia and some northern parts of Africa. Ruscus aculeatus occurs in woodlands and hedgerows, where it is tolerant of deep shade, and also on coastal cliffs. Likely due to its attractive winter/spring color, Ruscus aculeatus has become a fairly common landscape plant.

The common name, butcher's broom, hails from one of its original uses. In Europe, Ruscus species were traditionally harvested for their flat and stiff branches to make small brooms that were used for clearing off and cleaning butchering blocks. Recent research has uncovered that butcher's broom contains some antibacterial compounds. Butcher's broom was also used to reduce swelling and to speed the recovery of fractures.

Grows to length of 80 cm with stiff branches bearing cladodes (stems modified to look like leaves) and true leaves less than 5 mm. Flowers grow from axils of leaves on adaxial side of cladodes. The 6 tepals are pale green, and the ovary or stamens are violet (dioecious plant). Fruit about 1 cm red, thick and rigid. Flowers in the axil of bracts cladodes up to 4 cm.

In Great Britain it has been recorded from southern England to north Wales.

The major phytochemicals in butcher's broom are steroidal saponins. Saponins occur naturally in plants as glycosides and have foam forming properties. The specific saponins found in butcher's broom are ruscogenins, ruscogenen and neoruscogenin, named for the genus Ruscus. and are also believed to cause constriction in veins. Currently the mode of action of ruscogenins is not well understood, but one proposed mechanism suggests that ruscogenins suppresses leukocyte migration through both protein and mRNA regulation. Newer research has also uncovered that there are polyphenols present in butcher's broom which may also be physiologically active, possibly as an antioxidant. As of yet there is not enough evidence to make a conclusion, but since they have now been synthesized in labs further research should be in progress.

The dwarf cultivar 'John Redmond', growing to tall by broad, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Other cultivars include 'Christmas Berry'.