A dialect name for butcher's broom. A stiff, evergreen shrub that is both attractive and unusual. It looks a little like a small holly but is actually a member of the lily family. The only monocotyledonous lily, the bitter roots are used in France to make an apéritif called petit-houx. The woody branches of this plant used to be bound into bundles and sold to butchers for cleaning the meat from their chopping blocks.