Ruscus aculeatus L., it is a rhizomatous geophyte, subshrub 30-80 cm tall, glabrous and green, with an oblique and creeping rootstock. Stems in a tuft, erect, bare at the base, very branched in the upper part, longitudinally striated as are the branches and cladodes, branches modified into leaf-like. Cladodes rather small, very close together, alternate, sessile, and twisted at the base, oval-lanceolate, rigid, prickly, bearing the flowers a little below the middle of the upper surface. Flowers dioecious. in fascieules of 2-(3), with very short pedicels, usually on the lower face of cladodes. c. 2 mm long. Perianth small. Tepals 6 greenish uninerved, the outer c. 2.5 x 2 mm, elliptical, obtuse, the inner c. 2,2 x 1 mm, linear lanceolate. Berry globose, the size of a cherry, with 1-2 large seeds.
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