Hiden flowers before red berries

Ruscus aculeatus, known as butcher's-broom is a low evergreen Eurasian shrub, with flat shoots known as cladodes that give the appearance of stiff, spine-tipped leaves. 

Small greenish flowers appear in spring, and are borne singly in the center of the cladodes.

 

 

The female flowers are followed by a red berry, and the seeds are bird-distributed, but the plant also spreads vegetatively by means of rhizomes.

 

This plant occurs in woodlands and hedgerows, where it is tolerant of deep shade.
The berry is toxic but the rest of the plant has been used for medical purpose.