Asparagus acutifolius

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Genus Asparagus

Herbs, shrubs , or vines , perennial , from rhizomes, usually with fusiform tubers, often with fernlike appearance . Stems photosynthetic, erect , spreading or climbing , branched; cladophylls solitary or fasciculate, in nodes of reduced, scarious leaves. Leaves small, scale-like, membranous, or sometimes spiny with hardened base , subtending cladophylls. Inflorescences axillary or terminal , racemose, or umbellate , paired or solitary; racemes short. Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; perianth greenish, white, or yellowish, campanulate to rotate; tepals 6, distinct or shortly connate basally, equal; stamens 6, distinct, equal; anthers versatile, 2-locular, dehiscence introrse ; ovary superior, 3-locular, septal nectaries present; style 3-branched distally; pedicel with conspicuous joint . Fruits baccate , red or purplish black, globose , often with tepals persisting at base. Seeds 1-6, black, globose to angular. x = 10.

Species 170-300: introduced ; Europe, Asia, Africa; some widely introduced, expected elsewhere.

Asparagus is a moderately important horticultural genus, with one species commonly grown for its edible young shoots and a number of others grown ornamentally. The genus is treated here in a broad sense (K . Kubitzki and P. J. Rudall 1998; W. S. Judd 2001) and encompasses species that have been segregated in several genera (A. L. Takhtajan 1997; S. T. Malcomber and Sebsebe D. 1993). Embryological features (P. J. Rudall et al. 1998) and DNA-based analyses (M. W. Chase et al. 1996; M. F. Fay et al. 2000; P. J. Rudall et al. 1997) support the monophyly of Asparagus and the Asparagaceae.[1]

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,178 meters (0 to 3,865 feet).[2]

Taxonomy

Notes

Publishing author : L. Publication : Sp. Pl. 1: 314 1753 [1 May 1753]

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 09-Jul-2004

Similar Species

Members of the genus Asparagus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 52 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. acerosus (Wild Asparagus) · A. acutifolius (Lesser Asparagus) · A. africanus (African Asparagus) · A. aphyllus (Israel Wild Asparagus) · A. asparagoides (African Asparagus Fern) · A. declinatus (Bridal Veil) · A. densiflorus (Asparagus Fern) · A. densiflorus 'Meyersii' (Meyersii Foxtail Fern Asparagus Densiflorus) · A. densiflorus 'Myersii' (Myer's Foxtail Fern) · A. densiflorus 'Sprengeri Compacta' (Compact Sprenger Asparagus Fern) · A. denudatus (Asparagus Fern) · A. draco (Canary Island Dragon Tree) · A. falcatus (Asparagus Fern) · A. filicinus (Fern Asparagus) · A. graminifolius (Lilyturf) · A. macowanii (Ming Fern) · A. officinalis officinalis (Asparagus) · A. officinalis prostratus (Wild Asparagus) · A. officinalis 'Ariane' (Asparagus 'ariane') · A. officinalis 'Bejo 2241' (Asparagus 'bejo 2241') · A. officinalis 'Bejo 2245' (Asparagus 'bejo 2245') · A. officinalis 'Millenium' (Asparagus) · A. officinalis 'Raffaelo' (Asparagus 'raffaelo') · A. officinalis 'Ramires' (Asparagus 'ramires') · A. pyramidalis (Asparagus Fern) · A. racemosus (Indian Asparagus) · A. scandens (Climbing Asparagus) · A. setaceus (Asparagus Fern) · A. tenuifolius (Narrow-Leaved Asparagus) · A. terminalis (Chinese Colli) · A. verticillatus (Climbing Asparagus) · A. virgatus (Broom Fern) · A. 'Apollo' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Atlas' (Asparagus) · A. 'Connover's Colossal' (Asparagus) · A. 'Dariana' (Asparagus) · A. 'French Market' (Asparagus) · A. 'Golia' (Asparagus) · A. 'Grande' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Ida Lea' (Asparagus) · A. 'Jersey Gem' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Jersey Giant' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Jersey King' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Jersey Knight' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Jersey Supreme' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Marte' (Asparagus) · A. 'Martha Washington' (Hybrid Asparagus) · A. 'Mary Washington' (Mary Washington Hybrid Asparagus Asparagus) · A. 'Precoce D'argenteuil' (Asparagus) · A. 'Purple Passion' (Asparagus) · A. 'Theilim' (Asparagus) · A. 'Uc 157' (Hybrid Asparagus)

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Further Reading

• A catalogue of the Coccid of the world. [By] Mrs. Maria E. Fernald, A.M. Amherst, Mass., Carpenter & Morehouse, 1903. url p. 214.
• A dictionary of English names of plants applied in England and among English-speaking people to cultivated and wild plants, trees, and shrubs, by William Miller; in two parts, English-Latin and Latin-English. London, J. Murray, 1884. url p. 164.
• A general system of botany, descriptive and analytical. In two parts. Part I. Outlines of organography, anatomy, and physiology. Part II. Descriptions and illustrations of the orders. By Emm. Le Maout [and] J. Decaisne. With 5500 figures by L. Steinheil a London, Longmans, Green & Co.1873. url .
• A manual of dangerous insects likely to be introduced in the United States through importations. Ed. by W. Dwight Pierce, entomologist, southern field crop insect investigations. Washington: Govt. print. off., 1918. url p. 248.
• Alpine plants: a practical method for growing the rarer and more difficult alpine flowers / by W.A. Clark; with illustrations from photographs by Clarence Elliott. London: C. Scribner, 1901. url p. 22.
• An illustrated dictionary of medicine, biology and allied sciences. .. by George M. Gould. 5th ed., with additions and corrections. PhiladelphiaP. Blakiston's Son1907 url p. 100.
• Anales de la Sociedad Espaola de Historia Natural. Madrid: La Sociedad, url p. 135, p. 158, p. 171, p. 171, p. 201, p. 201, p. 213, p. 230, p. 238, p. 273, p. 281, p. 281, p. 297, p. 331, p. 331, p. 429, p. 463.
• Arboretum et fruticetum Britannicum; or, The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described; with their propagation, culture, mana London, Henry G. Bohn, 1854. url p. 168.
• Arboretum et fruticetum britannicum; or, The trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described; with their propagation, culture, mana London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854. url p. 168, p. 168.
• Asparagus, its culture for home use and for market: a practical treatise on the planting, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, and preserving of asparagus, with notes on its history and botany / by F. M. Hexamer. New York: O. Judd Co., 1909, C1901. url p. 16.
• Asparagus: its culture for home use and for market: a practical treatise on the planting, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, and preserving of asparagus, with notes on its history and botany / by F.M. Hexamer. New York: Orange Judd, 1901. url p. 16.
• Bulletin / Hatch Experiment Station of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. [S.l.: s.n.], 1888- url p. 214.
• Bulletin / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry. Washington: G.P.O., 1901-1913. url p. 58, p. 65, p. 65, p. 87.
• Bulletin of miscellaneous information /Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1920 London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1900-1941. url p. 196, p. 255, p. 329.
• Carotenoids, their comparative biochemistry. New York, Chemical Pub. Co., 1954. url p. 289, p. 328.
• Contributions to the flora of Mentone, and to a winter flora of the Riviera, including the coast from Marseilles to Genoa, by J. Traherne Moggridge. .. London: L. Reeve, 1871. url p. 391.
• Cyclopedia of American horticulture, comprising suggestions for cultivation of horticultural plants, descriptions of the species of fruits, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants sold in the United by L. H. Bailey. .. assisted by William Miller. .. and many expert cultivators and botanists. London: The Macmillan company, 1909. url p. 106.
• Dictionary of arts, manufactures, and mines containing a clear exposition of their principles and practice by Robert Hunt, assisted by F.W. Rudler. London, Longmans, 1875-78. url p. 257.
• Enquiry into plants and minor works on odoùrs and weather signs, London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916. url p. 487.
• Flora calpensis; contributions to the botany and topography of Gibraltar, and its neighbourhood. By E. F. Kelaart. London, J. van Voorst, 1846. url p. 164.
• Flora of Syria, Palestine, and Sinai: from the Taurus to Ras Muhammas and from the Mediterranean sea to the Syrian desert / by Rev. George E. Post. Beirut, Syria: Syrian Protestant college[1896] url p. 780.
• Florula Mortolensis. An enumeration of the plants growing wild at La Mortola. Ventimiglia, Billi, 1905. url .
• Forest culture and eucalyptus trees, San FranciscoCubery1876 url p. 464, p. 540.
• Garden and forest; a journal of horticulture, landscape art and forestry. New York: The Garden and forest publishing co., 1888-97. url .
• Inventory of seeds and plants imported / U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1914-1924. url p. 87.
• Journal of botany, British and foreign. 1914 London: Robert Hardwicke, 1863-1942. url p. 104, p. 136.
• Journal of botany: being a second series of the Botanical miscellany. 1 1834 London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman; Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1834-1842. url p. 211, p. 224, p. 77.
• La botanique en Provence au 16e sicle. Lonard Rauwolff, Jacques Raynaudet. MarseilleH. Aubertin & G. Rolle1900 url , p. 79.
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• Rambles on the Riviera, New York, C. Scribner's sons; [etc., etc.]1906. url .
• Rambles on the Riviera, by Eduard Strasburger. Translated from the German by O. and B. Comerford Casey, with 87 coloured illustrations by Louise Reusch. New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1906. url , p. 428.
• Seeds and plants imported / U.S. Department of Agriculture. Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1903-1913. url p. 65.
• Select extra-tropical plants readily eligible for industrial culture or naturalisation with indications of their native countries and some of their uses / by Baron Ferd. von Mueller. Melbourne: R. S. Brain, govt. printer, 1895. url p. 59, p. 613.
• Select extra-tropical plants, readily eligible for industrial culture or naturalisation, with indications of their native countries and some of their uses. By Baron Ferd. von Mueller. .. Sydney, T. Richards, government printer, 1881. url p. 37, p. 381.
• Some account of the fauna and flora of Sinai, Petra, and Wa?dy 'Arabah, London, Pub. for the Committee of the Palestine exploration fund by A. P. Watt, 1891. url , , .
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• The natural history of plants; their forms, growth, reproduction, and distribution. From the German of Anton Kerner von Marilaun by F. W. Oliver, with the assistance of Marian Busk and Mary F. Ewart. London, Blackie, 1894-1895. url p. 930.
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Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 31, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 28, 2007:

• Conservatoire botanique national du Bassin parisien, Conservatoire botanique national du Bassin parisien
• European Environment Agency, EUNIS
• GBIF-Spain, BDBCV BioBlitz in Penyagolosa
• GBIF-Spain, Botánica, Universidad de León: LEB-Cormo
• GBIF-Spain, Dirección General de Investigación, Desarrollo Tecnológico e Innovación de la Junta de Extremadura(DGIDTI): HSS
• GBIF-Spain, Herbario Universidad de Málaga: MGC-Cormófitos
• GBIF-Spain, Hortus Botanicus Sollerensis Herbarium
• GBIF-Spain, Institut Botanic de Barcelona, BC
• GBIF-Spain, Jardín Botánico de Córdoba: Herbarium COA
• GBIF-Spain, Universidad de Almería, HUAL
• Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Israel Nature and Parks Authority
• SysTax, Herbarium Universitat Ulm
• SysTax, Justus-Liebig-Universitat Giessen
• SysTax, Museu Botanico Municipal
• SysTax, SysTax
• The Swedish Museum of Natural History
• , Lund Botanical Museum
• Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5824054
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-274916
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14390555
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:530992-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 530992-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 875635

Footnotes

1. Gerald B. Straley  & Frederick H. Utech "Asparagus". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 20, 50, 53, 54, 213. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Mean = 461.250 meters (1,513.287 feet), Standard Deviation = 283.880 based on 127 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.