Flora of North America species comparison

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Asparagus

asparagus, asparagus-fern, asperge, espárrago
Habit 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.

Asparagus
Distribution
from USDA
Europe; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America; some widely introduced, expected elsewhere]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 170–300 (4 in the flora).

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.

Asparagus virgatus Baker has been collected once as a garden escape in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, but it is probably not truly naturalized in the flora. Asparagus falcatus Linnaeus occasionally persists after cultivation in the Miami–Dade County area of southern Florida (W. S. Judd 2001).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants erect; some flowers unisexual.
A. officinalis
1. Plants scrambling, twining, or arching; all flowers bisexual.
→ 2
2. Cladophylls solitary at each node, broadly lanceolate to ovate, with 20–24 veins.
A. asparagoides
2. Cladophylls in fascicles of 3–20 per node, linear or filiform, with single vein.
→ 3
3. Cladophylls filiform; pedicels 1–3 mm; inflorescences 1–4-flowered terminal umbels; berries purplish black.
A. setaceus
3. Cladophylls flattened; pedicels 5–8 mm; inflorescences 5–9(–17)-flowered axillary racemes; berries red.
A. aethiopicus
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 213. Authors: Gerald B. Straley†, Frederick H. Utech.
Parent taxa Liliaceae
Subordinate taxa
A. aethiopicus, A. asparagoides, A. officinalis, A. setaceus
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 313. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 147. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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