1113.000 Asparagus L.

MYRSIPHYLLUM Willd.

PROTASPARAGUS Oberm.

Fayaz, F. (2011) Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants Firefly Books, New Zealand

Description of the genus

Perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, usually with short rhizomes, erect or climbing, generally branched with green, flat cladodes in axils. Leaves appressed to stem, not green, scale-like; base spurred, often extending to spines. Inflorescence an axillary cluster, sometimes racemes or umbels, rarely solitary; bracteoles membranous. Perianth campanulate or sub-globose; segments free, occasionally connate at base. Fruit berries. Seeds 1-few.

Comment: Asparagus aethiopicus L. and A. densiflorus (Kunth) Jessop are two additional species listed for Zimbabwe in SABONET Report 33 (Mapaura & Timberlake, 2004: 85-86). This is likely based on misidentified specimens at SRGH since both species are not considered to occur in Zimbabwe by Demissew in Flora Zambesiaca 13(1), 2008.

Worldwide: 130-140 species, in the Old World excluding Australasia

Zimbabwe: 21 taxa.

Links to taxa: View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

Species	FZ divisions	Content
africanus Lam. var. africanus	N,W,C,E,S	Description, Image
africanus Lam. var. puberulus (Baker) Sebsebe	N,C,E,S
asparagoides (L.) Druce	N,C,E,S	Description, Image
aspergillus Jessop	N,W,C,S
buchananii Baker	W,S
chimanimanensis Sebsebe[NrEnd]	E	Description, Image
divaricatus (Oberm.) Fellingham & N.L. Mey.	E
edulis (Oberm.) Fellingham & N.L. Mey.	W,E
exuvialis Burch.	W,S
falcatus L. var. falcatus	E,S	Description, Image
flagellaris (Kunth) Baker	W
flavicaulis (Oberm.) Fellingham & N.L. Mey. subsp. flavicaulis	C
laricinus Burch.	N,W,C,E,S	Description, Image
longicladus N.E. Br.	W
nodulosus (Oberm.) Fellingham & N.L. Mey.	E,S
pendulus (Oberm.) Fellingham & N.L. Mey.	N,W
racemosus Willd.	C
schroederi Engl.	N,W,C,S
setaceus (Kunth) Jessop	N,C,E,S	Description, Image
suaveolens Burch.	W,C,S
virgatus Baker	C,E,S	Description, Image

Other sources of information about Asparagus:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Asparagus
Flora of Burundi: Asparagus
Flora of Caprivi: Asparagus
Flora of the DRC: Asparagus
Flora of Malawi: Asparagus
Flora of Mozambique: Asparagus
Flora of Rwanda: Asparagus
Flora of Zambia: Asparagus
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Asparagus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Asparagus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Asparagus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Asparagus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Asparagus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Asparagus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Asparagus
JSTOR Plant Science: Asparagus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Asparagus
Plants of the World Online: Asparagus
Tropicos: Asparagus
Wikipedia: Asparagus