My husband bought me flowers as a gift. After they died I noticed as I was tossing them out that in among them was a green, crisp fresh looking shoot with leaves on it. I rescued it and stuck it in water expecting it would die soon, too. The Leaves remained green and for a while I thought they must be plastic. Then after the water ran out I noticed their ends were turning a little brown so I quickly filled the water back up, wondering what I was dealing with. Then a month and a half or so later the underside of the leaves started sprouting this little ...sliver of something. Over the weeks the sliver turned into what almost resembles little stamens. It's been several months now and the plant is still in the cup with water, still (slowly) growing these things. What could this be? Could I plant it? What would it turn into?
The reason I saved it in the first place was because years ago my aunt passed away and in her funeral bouquet was a shoot from a willow tree. My mother saved the whole bouquet - she dried it and put the dried flowers in a vase. Suddenly, FIVE YEARS after the funeral, after the flowers were dried and had been sitting on our mantle, the willow tree shoot sprouted roots. My mom threw it in water and it grew. It was planted in our backyard and five years after that it was a tree. It was really an amazing thing. I figured it was a long shot that this odd green leafy thing would keep growing or become anything but since it appears it's doing something I wanted to look into what it is that is going on, per chance I get another tree out of it.

Ruscus plants do that, here's a pic:

Here's an old thread about ruscus.

The thread "Bump on Italian Ruscus Leaf" in Ask a Question forum

Hi & welcome, PJR! It looks like the blooms on your leaves are on the reverse side of the leaves, not the top side. If so, it may be another species of Ruscus. I am not sure what the "rules" are for sorting Ruscus species, and no further info was supplied in the discussion that Bria linked to.

I got some in a bouquet back in November 2020, and while everything else is long dead, the ruscus is still going strong in a vase of water that I refresh very rarely.

I also was curious if it could be propagated and googled a little to see what I could find. Since I'm rarely successful at it I didn't bother and instead kept it in water on a shelf. Your question inspired to me to actually look at it and this is what the growth on one if the leaves looks like now.

Absolutely fascinating! Totally new to me though I think I may have seen that foliage before in a bouquet. What endless weirdness exists in the plant world!

@PJRajon thanks for sharing!

@sooby and @BSchmuck thanks for the information!

Pat
Edit to correct address of OP

Bria, that's fun! Are there any roots?

@purpleinopp no, there aren't any roots that I can see. Just some dried up old buds at the base of the first pic I shared. Here's a closer look at another one doing the same thing with what appears to be 2 growths.

Not sure if there's anything to do here. I wouldn't know where to begin to try to plant this unless I just rip off the leaf (which is actually a stem?) And plant the leaf as if it is the root?

I've had a lot of success cutting stems of this & sticking them in the soil. I've always put them in the soil within an hour or two of cutting. I'm so surprised that your stem could stay green for 6-7 months w/o sprouting any roots - and BLOOM?! I don't feel qualified to predict anything about your lucky vase cuttings but am enjoying seeing them & hearing about them!

Bria @BSchmuck,

I'm enjoying this story too! Because Ruscus was new to me I looked it up thinking I don't know how any plant can bloom from a leaf.

You are correct, these are not leaves but wide flattened stems called cladodes or phylloclades. (From Wikipedia). They are monocots in the asparagus family. It says they spread by underground rhizomes.

The wiki also says Ruscus hypophyllum, spineless butcher's broom is used as foliage in the florist trade.

I tried to find propagation information. Basic information said from the rhizomes, which you don't have. There's a thread on Houzz where people are making discoveries like yours on their bouquet specimens, and they are trying different approaches to propagating with some success although a little vague.
https://www.houzz.com/discussi...

Very fascinating. I'm going to be looking at the supermarket bouquets for some! (Probably too upscale but I can look).

Pat

Guys, at one year in a vase it's still growing! No roots on the cut stems, but these things on the undersides of the leaves continue to grow and none of the stems have died.

Wow! That's fascinating!! It looks like tiny rhizomes have formed on some of the leaves.