Butcher's Broom is so named because the mature branches were bundled and used as brooms by butchers to clean their cutting blocks.

Ruscus aculeatus Overview and Plant Description.

Butcher's Broom Extract INCI Name Ruscus Aculeatus Extract CAS 84012-38-4 EINECS ELINCS No 281-682-9 VEGF Booster Butchers Broom Root Extract preparation photo picture image Butcher's broom, Ruscus aculeatus [Fam. Liliaceae], is a member of the lily family with stiff, pointed leaf-like twigs, greenish white flowers and shiny red berries that is native to Europe and Africa. Like its relative, asparagus, its young tender shoots can be eaten. The Roman scholar Pliny report the use of Butcher's broom for the treatment of varicose veins in 60 A.D. and ancient Greeks also used this herb to cure swelling and other ailments. The Greek naturalist and philosopher Theophrastus reported seeing "lame people get up and walk" and "swelling become normal again" after treatment with this "miracle herb".

The thick roots and rhizomes are collected in autumn and used medicinally to treat chronic venous insufficiency, edema, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), hemorrhoids and as a diuretic in the treatment of urinary problems. Butcher's broom is particularly popular in France for preventing post-operative blood clots, thrombosis and phlebitis and has been used by thousands of patients before undergoing surgery. Butcher's broom is most often used to treat and prevent chronic venous insufficiency, varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Clinical studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of Butcher's Broom in promoting hemorrhoid healing. It's active ingredients, including saponins and flavonoids such as rutin, strengthen capillaries and other tissues, tighten veins, and reduce clotting by naturally thinning the blood. One trial indicates that butcher's broom may be useful in preventing diabetic retinopathy. Butcher's broom and other herbs that help circulatory health are also becoming popular in weight-loss products designed to increase fat burning and celluloid release through enhanced circulation and improved delivery of other active ingredients for slimming. Butcher's broom additionally cleanses the liver and kidneys. Butcher's broom also contains glycolic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid, which produces a diuretic effect when taken internally and also helps to renew skin cells when applied externally in creams.
Butcher's Broom Extract INCI Name Ruscus Aculeatus Extract CAS 84012-38-4 EINECS ELINCS No 281-682-9 VEGF Booster Butchers Broom Root Extract preparation photo picture image

Butcher's Broom, a low, shrubby, evergreen plant, which occurs not infrequently in woods and waste and bushy places, especially in the south of England, is sometimes called Knee Holly, though it is in no way allied to the true Holly, being a member of the Lily tribe. It is, however, entirely different in appearance to the bulbous plants we regard as the characteristic representatives of this group, it being, in fact, the only Liliaceous shrub known in this country, and the only representative of its genus among our flora, the other species of the genus, Ruscus, being mostly native to northern Africa.

Butcher's broom is the root of the plant Ruscus aculeatus. R. aculeatus is a common evergreen shrub native to Mediterranean countries. It is related to asparagus. The shrub grows to less than 3 ft (1 m) in height and about the same size in girth in shady, moist, uncultivated ground. Its leaves are small and laced with brown membranes. The root, which is the medicinal part, is fleshy. Butcher's

Butcher's broom. (? PlantaPhile, Germany. Reproduced by permission.) broom has a few small greenish white flowers that mature into red, cherry-sized berries. This herb has spread to many other parts of the world including Great Britain, the United States, and western Asia. Other names for Butcher's broom include kneeholm, knee holly, sweet broom, Jew's myrtle, pettigree, and box holly.

It grows to a height of 3 to 5 feet and produces numerous long, straight, slender bright green branches, tough and very flexible, smooth and prominently angled. The leaves are alternate, hairy when young the lower ones shortly stalked, with three small, oblong leaflets, the upper ones, near the tips of the branches, sessile and small, often reduced to a single leaflet. Professor G. Henslow (Floral Rambles in Highways and Byways) says with reference to the 'leaves' of the broom: 'It has generally no leaves, the green stems undertaking their duties instead. If it grows in wet places, it can develop threefoliate leaves.' The large bright yellow, papilionaceous, fragrant flowers, in bloom from April to July, are borne on axillary footstalks, either solitary or in pairs, and are succeeded by oblong, flattened pods, about 1 1/2 inch long, hairy on the edges, but smooth on the sides. They are nearly black when mature. They burst with a sharp report when the seeds are ripe flinging them to a distance by the spring-iike twisting of the valves or sides of the pods. The continuous crackling of the bursting seed-vessels on a hot, sunny July day is readily noticeable. The flowers have a great attraction for bees, they contain no honey, but abundance of pollen.

'In flowers without honey, such as the Broom, there is a curious way of "exploding" to expel the pollen. In the Broom the stigma lies in the midst of the five anthers of the longer stamens, and when a bee visits the flower those of the shorter explode and disperse their pollen on the bee pressing upon the closed edges of the keel petal. "The shock is not enough to drive the bee away...The split now quickly extends further...when a second and more violent explosion occurs." The style was horizontal with a flattened end below the stigma; but when freed from restraint it curls inwards, forming more than a complete spiral turn. It springs up and strikes the back of the bee with its stigma. The bee then gathers pollen with its mouth and legs.' (From The Fertilization of Flowers, by Professor H. Mueller, pp. 195-6)

Cultivation:

Butcher's Broom is very hardy, thriving in almost any soil or situation, and is often planted in shrubberies or edges of woods, on account of its remaining green after the deciduous trees have shed their leaves. Propagation is generally effected by division of the roots in autumn. The shrub may also be propagated by seed, but quicker results are obtained by the other method. When planted under trees it soon spreads into large clumps.

Broom is most easily raised from seed, sown broadcast in the open air, as soon as ripe. Seedlings may be transplanted in autumn or spring to their permanent position. Prune directly after flowering, if the shoots have not been gathered for medicinal use, shortening the old shoots to the base of promising young ones.

As their roots strike down deeply into the ground, the plants can be grown in dry, sandy soil, where others will not grow. They do well on rough banks.

Broom may also be increased by layers. Choice garden varieties are generally increased by cuttings inserted in cold frames in September.

Reference:

1.Butcher's Broom is so named because the mature branches were bundled and used as brooms by butchers to clean their cutting blocks.

last edit date:10th,Mar.2010.

Available Product

Name:Butcher's Broom Extract
Serie No:P087
Specifications:10:1.TLC
INCI Name:RUSCUS ACULEATUS EXTRACT
EINECS/ELINCS No.:281-682-9
CAS:84012-38-4
Chem/IUPAC Name:Ruscus Aculeatus Extract is an extract of the rhizomes of the butcherbroom, Ruscus aculeatus, Liliaceae

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