In 1597, John Gerard called these small evergreen shrubs, Hippoglossum or horse-tongue. He considered the plants mas (male), if it had red berries, and foemina (female), if the berries were yellow.

Current classification holds that there are six species of horse-tongues or Ruscus. Gerard had at least one thing correct--generally, the plants are dioecious, staminate and pistillate flowers are borne on separate plants, but some are monoecious with male and female flowers on the same plant or hermaphrodites with both stamens and pistil in the same flowers.

Although the Caesar's laurel and other horse-tongues appear like normal broadleaf shrubs, the plants are monocots and closely related to asparagus and lilies. The stems arise from rhizomes which are tolerant of tree roots and dry soil. The 'leaves' are actually cladodes or phylloclades, "leaf-like branches" which carry on photosynthesis. The true leaves of horse-tongues are scale-like and seen only while the stem is developing. These leaves abscise as the phylloclades develop.

The 'bump' on the phylloclade is another smaller phylloclade with the inflorescence borne in the axil. Another botanist disagreed stating that the small wedge shaped structure was a cladophyll, a "branch-like leaf" on the phylloclade. [Note the inset, upper left corner.]

The open flowers are white or greenish white and only 2 millimeters (1/16 inch) across. The fruit is a red (sometimes yellow) fleshy berry with one to four seeds. Berries are borne only on female or hermaphroditic plants. Ruscus are frequently grown for the florists' trade since the cut stems are long-lasting.