PlantFiles: Butcher's Broom
Ruscus hypoglossum

This plant is vert poisonous to cats. my mom bought me a rose for valentines day and this was part of the foliage in with the rose and my cats ate some of it and became very sick. he spent 5 days at the vet and ended up having surgery. The doctor told us that we might lose him because he was so sick he was vomiting, not eating, very lethargy and know he might have kindney damage. So if you have cats please get this plant out of your house we did'nt know what this plant was it came with the rose. I have done research on this and it is very poisonous to cats this plant is related to the liliaceas family which is the related to the lily family and lilys are very poisonous to cats also. So please don't have this plant in your house if you have one in your house and your cat has not ate it yet don't take the chance. Move it outside.

This plant can be traced back to the 1600s. The English peasants gathered it from the understory of the forests and sold it to butchers, who used it to scour the blocks where they butchered meats. Also used to scour the floors.
The new growth is tender and can be steamed. Tastes like asparagus!

This is an oddball plant so I of course got one for the garden.. it has itty bitty flowers in the middle of the leaves, which are themselves sort of ordinary. I got a dinky plant and it grew well for me... but then I discovered what a large shrub this can become and not so sure I want it where it is anymore.