This evergreen member of the Ruscaceae family was given this name by Knuth in 1850. It is found on the  Canary and Madeira Islands, growing in a rich peat 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.

Semele is the name of the mother of Bacchus, androgyna : from andros , that means masculine and gyne , that means feminine, referring to the hermaphrodite flowers.