Author: | Carl
Sigismund Knuth, 1850 |
Family: |
RUSCACEAE* |
Origin:
|
The
Canary Islands, Madeira |
Soil:
|
Rich |
Water:
|
Maximum |
Sun:
|
Medium |
Thickness: |
4 Centimetres |
Height: |
10 Meters |
Flower:
|
Crème Colour |
Propagate:
|
Seeds/Rhizomes |
Names:
|
Climbing Butcher’s Broom |
Synonyms: |
Ruscus androgynus,
Linnaeus.
Danae androgyna, Webb & Berthel.
Ruscus procerus, Salisb.
Semele androgyna subsp. pterygophora,
M.Â.Carvalho. |
This evergreen member
of the Ruscaceae family was given this name by Carl Sigismund Knuth in 1850. It is found
on the Canary and Madeira Islands, growing in a rich soil with
lots of water and some sun. The rhizomes grow up to four centimetres
in diameter, the climbing vines can reach ten meters in length. The
flowers are crème coloured or pale yellow, the fruits are red, one centimetre
in diameter.
The bizarre "leaves" with the flowers at the edges are actually not
leaves at all, but flattened branches known as phylloclades or
cladodes.
Might be confused with
Semele menezesi Costa 1927 (Pinheiro
de Carvalho) from Madeira.
The genera name from mythical
mother of Dionysus. The species name of the mother of Bacchus,
androgyna :
from andros , that means 'masculine' and gyne , that
means 'feminine', referring to the hermaphrodite flowers.
')Accordantly to the latest taxonomic system; APG IV 2016,
Ruscaceae
is
now part of
the Asparagaceae.
|