Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Butchers-broom, Ruscus aculeatus
Photographs: Co. Waterford

Butchers-broom
Ruscus aculeatus
Family: Liliaceae

Flowering January - April. Evergreen shrub. Introduced.

Plants are dioecious so both male and female plants are needed for seed-set but plants also reproduces vegetatively. Red berries are produced on female plants in late summer to winter. Spine-tipped leaf-like cladodes (branch with the form and function of leaf). Slow growing, to 1m.

Prefers full or semi-shade. Very scattered distribution in dry woods and hedges, usually as a relic of cultivation.

Butchers-broom, Ruscus aculeatus
Butcher's-broom, Ruscus aculeatus

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