Ruscus comes from fruscus, name given by Virgil derived from the Celtic beus, boxwood and hélen, and holly. The Ruscus hipophyllum, first described by Linnaeus is originally from the south of the Iberian peninsula (and North Africa), being naturalized not far from here in the park of the Alcornocales. Del Amo collected in the nineteenth century: 'This species called Alexandrian laurel grows in the mountains of the Rock of Gibraltar and close to Algeciras, but often as an ornamental plant in gardens and courtyards.' The yard is, as Manuel Ferrand reminded us, one of the most characteristic elements of architecture and gardening in Seville. Typological debugging of older civilizations, from the Greek courts, through the Roman courts with colonnades to the later Muslims, who viewed during the Renaissance as the flowerbed was replaced by marble slabs and vegetation rose artificially on planters. Thereafter a botanical selection was made in town so fostering the adoption of species that were adapted to the new conditions of cultivation. The broom, from shady and humid forests of Cadiz, was one of them, along with other aromatic and ornamental plants like jasmine, tapes, carnations and geraniums.