• Image of Ruscus aculeatus|Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC|JLBG

    Photo by JLBG taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC

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Ruscus aculeatus

Butcher's Broom

This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

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Item #: 4751

Zones: 7a to 9b, possibly colder

Dormancy: Evergreen

Height: 24" tall

Culture: Part Sun to Shade

Origin: England, Iran

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


From Iran and a few other adjacent countries comes this strange poet's laurel relative. The mature, upright clumps to 2' tall x 4' wide are composed of dark green stems and sharp cladophylls (a prehistoric leaf-like structure). Butcher's broom was named because butchers used the branches to sweep the ground after they finished their work. A well grown clump of the painfully slow growing butcher's broom resembles a short-haired green porcupine after a close encounter with an tractor-trailer. These are truly tough drought-tolerant plants for the worst of garden conditions.