Plants erect shrubs. Leaves scarious, minute. Cladodes green, persistent, paralllel veined, oblong to oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, bearing flowers on their lower or upper surfaces. Flowers unisexual; perianth segments free, the inner 3 narrower than the outer; staminate flowers with 3 anthers; pistillate flowers with 1, trilocular ovary; ovules 2 per locule. Fruits berries, fleshy, 1(-2) seeded.
Ruscus is a genus of 7 species that are native from Europe and the Mediterranean Region east to Iran and the Caucasus. Ruscus hypophyllum is grown as an ornamental in Pakistan.