[See quot. 1847.] Common name of Ruscus aculeatus (N. O. Liliaceæ, tribe Asparageæ), also called Knee Holly, a curious low-growing shrubby evergreen, with rigid branched stems, and coriaceous spiny leaves, or more strictly phyllodes, bearing on their disk the flower and fruit. It is found in the south of England, and is the only native endogenous shrub.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 60. The wild myrte tre … is called in Englishe bochers brome.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xiii. 674. In Shoppes it is called Ruscus; in English Kneeholme, Kneehul, Butchers Broome and Petigree.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp., 131. Butchers broom … is of an austere and bitterish Taste.
1847. Rural Cycl., I. 550. The whole plant is gathered by butchers, and made into besoms for sweeping their blocks and shops; and hence it obtained the name of butcher’s broom.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands, 133. Botanically speaking, the Butcher’s Broom is only a half-shrubby plant.
