Wheeler's Ruscus or Butcher's Broom. This exceptional plant in the lily family, Liliaceae, makes a dwarf evergreen shrub to 20-30" tall and is adorned with HUGE red berries on the surface of its "leaves." Well, not really. Botanists tell us that it does not have leaves, but rather flattened stems called cladophylls. Could have fooled me. The best way to describe this plant is that it looks like green plastic. It loves dry shade. Normally this species is dioecious, with separate male and female plants, but this selection is self-fertile, producing fruit without a pollinator. A real "traffic stopper". It can be divided or it comes true from seed. They are so slow from seed that you can leave them in your will for your great-great-grandchildren.
Zones 7-9
