Ruscus aculeatus L.
Eng.: Butcher’s-broom. Spa.: Rusco, jusbarda. Fre.: Fragon petit houx, fragon faux houx. Ara.: Khizana, khizerane, khallaku, senesaq, ass berri, meurdjel, sobhan. Tam.: Redradj, atkizunn.
Perennial plant, evergreen, dioecious, with woody, rigid, green stems, up to 1 m long, arising from a long-lived rhizome. Leaves minute membranous bracts, triangular to lanceolate, very small (4-10 mm). Phylloclades, a type of false leaf, 1-2 × 2-4 cm, born from leaf axils, ovate to oblong, finishing in a pointed tip; green, rigid and prickly. These phylloclades, which are nothing more than flattened branchlets with a leafy appearance, serve the function of true leaves. Flowers are born solitary or in pairs (rarely 3) in the centre of phylloclades, in the axil of a small whitish and membranous bract; perianth consists of 6 tepals, greenish-whitish, external ones elliptic, internal ones linear-lanceolate. Male flowers have 3 stamens fused at the filaments. Female flowers have a rounded or ovoid pistil. Fruit, a globose red berry from 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter, which has inside 1 single seed, sometimes 2, rarely up to 4.
Flowering:
February to April.
Fruiting:
September to December.
Habitat:
Indifferent to the type of substrate, it is a typical plant of shady areas in oak woodlands (Quecus suber and Q. ilex). In areas of subhumid to hyperhumid bioclimate, thermomediterranean to supramediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Mediterranean region and Central Europe. In North Africa it is distributed in almost all the non steppic western Mediterranean area. A large population is also found in NE Libya (Akhdar mountains).
Observations:
The other species of the genus in the region is R. hypophyllum L., which is easily differentiated by its non-woody nor rigid stems and larger phylloclades (7-10 × 4-6 cm), not rigid nor prickly. It grows in wetter forests in the north of the Mediterranean region.
Conservation status:
R. aculeatus is a common species and R. hypophyllum is rarer but none are considered threatened. In the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species they are not evaluated.