9/2/2023 0 Comments Butchers broom ruscus![]() ![]() This extract is a diuretic and is also found as an ingredient in many natural remedies for hemorrhoids. Almost all the parts of this plant are used for medicinal purposes but the Butcher’s Broom extract is the most popular natural remedy derived from this hardy shrub. The fertile flowers develop into showy, spherical to oblong, waxy cherry-sized, scarlet berries (3/8″ across) which mature from late summer to winter and remains on the tree all winter. In fertile varieties the style is surrounded by a honey gland. In one variety the stamens are fused at the base. The corolla is deeply divided into 6 segments. Small greenish white flowers are solitary or in a few clusters and grow from the middle of the leaves. The plant has prickly leaves with a single spine. Flowers and fruits are borne on cladophylls. Actual leaves of this shrub are microscopic. The phylloclade (short shoots spread like leaves) is oblong, stiff, double-rowed, up to 2.5 cm long and terminate in a sharp tip. Leaves are small, brown membranous, triangular to lanceolate, and scale-like. The stems are erect, woody and heavily branched. The root has no odor, but its taste is sweetish at first and then slightly acrid. If a transverse section be made, a number of vascular bundles in the central portion are to be seen. ![]() When dry, it is brownish grey, 2 to 4 inches long and 1/3 inch in diameter, having somewhat crowded rings and rounded stem scars on the upper surface and many woody rootlets below. The root is thick, striking deep into the ground. It prefers well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils. The plant is found growing abundantly on the wastelands, woods, bushy places, woodlands, coastal cliffs and hedgerows. aculeatus was given its common name, butcher’s broom, because its stiff twigs were bound together and used by butchers in Europe to keep their cutting boards clean.īutcher’s broom is a slow growing low evergreen Eurasian shrub that grows about 3 to 5 feet tall. The word “rusci-” means butcher’s-broom-like, and the word “aculeatus” means prickly or thorny. It is also widely planted in gardens, and has spread as a garden escape in many areas outside its native range. It occurs in woodlands and hedgerows, where it is tolerant of deep shade, and also on coastal cliffs. It is known variously as Knee holy, Knee Holly, Knee holm, Jew’s Myrtle, Sweet Broom, Pettigree, Torny fragon, box holly, Balai du Boucher, Rusco, Fragon, Petit Houx, knee holm, knee hull, pettigrue, prickly box, shepherd’s myrtle and wild myrtle. The plant is native to Europe, the Black Sea area, northern Africa and the Azores. Butcher’s broom scientifically known as Ruscus aculeatus, is a member of the lily family with stiff, pointed leaf-like twigs, greenish white flowers and shiny red berries. ![]()
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