''Ruscus hypoglossum'' is a small evergreen shrub with a native range from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

north to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

and east to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

. Common names include spineless butcher's-broom, mouse thorn and horse tongue lily. The

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

comes from two Greek words ὑπό (''hypo'') and γλῶσσα (''glōssa'') meaning ''under'' and ''tongue''.

Description

The mature plant shrub will eventually reach about in height. It has a creeping rootstock and leaf-like

phylloclade Phylloclades and cladodes are flattened, photosynthetic shoots, which are usually considered to be modified branches. The two terms are used either differently or interchangeably by different authors. '' Phyllocladus'', a genus of conifer, is na ...

s or flattened stems that are about long to wide tapering at both ends. True leaves are smaller green appendages around the flowers. Small yellow flowers bloom in the axil of a leaf-like bract long on upper side of phylloclade. Plants are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

, with male and female flowers produced on separate plants. Fruit is a rarely produced red globose berry wide.

Gallery

Ruscus hypoglossum at BBG (50878).jpg, True leaf and flower on the phylloclade. Ruscus hypoglossum PID722-6.jpg, Flower. Ruscus hypoglossum shrubs.jpg, Shrubs. Ruscus_hypoglossum_MHNT.BOT.2009.13.62.jpg, Fruits and seeds.

Etymology

''Ruscus'' is derived from an old

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

name for prickly plants.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 209, 336 The specific epithet ''hypoglossum'' is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and means 'sheathed beneath' or 'below-a-tongue'. The name is in reference to the

cladodes :''In botany, "Cladodes" may refer to a synonym of the genus '' Alchornea'' or to the plural of " cladode".'' ''Cladodes'' is a genus of firefly beetles. It used to be included in the subfamily Amydetinae, which is probably a highly artifici ...

of this species, which extend beneath the flowers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3021942

hypoglossum ''Hypoglossum'' is a genus of red algae belonging to the family Delesseriaceae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution. Species: *''Hypoglossum anomalum'' *''Hypoglossum attenuatum'' *''Hypoglossum barbatum'' *''Hypoglossum caloglossoides' ...

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Dioecious plants