Let me introduce you to our unassuming winter star. When we arrived here eleven years ago we rescued an insignificant shrub that had been blown across the pathway & tethered it to a stake. We thought no more about it until the following February when each morning it repaid us tenfold, seducing our senses with it's soft, sweet aroma . This humble beauty is: Ruscus aculeatus, commonly known as Butcher's Broom.
This dense evergreen shrub is tough & nothing special at first glance. However, in late winter it comes into its own; small greenish-white flowers blossom in January which are then succeeded by scarlet berries. The scent is out of this world.
According to Culpepper it is:
'a plant of Mars,being of gallant, cleansing quality.'
Used as a herb it is sometimes called Knee Holly, a reference to it's hight at maturity. The name Butcher's Broom refers to a time when it was bound into bundles and sold to butchers for sweeping their blocks.
Please take time to seek it out!!
