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

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

north to

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and

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and east to

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and

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. 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 binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

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 certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, 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 languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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: 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 of all kno ...

and means 'sheathed beneath' or 'below-a-tongue'. The name is in reference to the cladodes of this species, which extend beneath the flowers.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3021942 hypoglossum Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Dioecious plants