Common Name: ASPARAGUS FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb [to shrub] or vine; rhizome short, generally with fleshy tubers. Stem: branchlets leaf-like, many, thread-like or flat, functioning as leaves. Leaf: scale-like, papery, with a spiny spur at base or not. Inflorescence: raceme, umbel, or flowers 1. Flower: bisexual or not, +- white to green-yellow; perianth segments 6, in 2 petal-like whorls, free or +- fused; stamens 6, epipetalous, anther attached near middle; ovary superior, chambers 3. Fruit: berry, spheric, often red or blue. Seed: 1--6, black. Genera In Family: 3+ genera depending on interpretation, 320 species: especially northern temperate. eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Habit: Perennial herb. Inflorescence: pedicels slender, jointed near middle. Flower: stamens +- >= perianth, exserted; style 1, short, slender, stigmas 3. Etymology: (Greek: ancient name) Note:Asparagus densiflorus (Kunth) Jessop misappl. to A. aethiopicus L., a waif.
Asparagus setaceus (Kunth) Jessop
NATURALIZED Habit: Climbing or sprawling, woody; roots fibrous. Stem: <= 4 m, wiry; branchlets < 1 mm wide. Leaf: spurred, 4--10 mm. Inflorescence: generally terminal umbels; flowers 1--4. Flower: bisexual, nodding. Fruit: 4--5 mm, purple-black. Chromosomes: n=10. Ecology: Disturbed places (sites of former gardens); Elevation: < 100 m. Bioregional Distribution: SCo (urban canyons, San Diego); Distribution Outside California: Florida; native to southern Africa. Flowering Time: Apr--Sep Unabridged Note:Asparagus setaceus used also for naturalized plants in Australia until it was determined that it had been misapplied there for naturalized plants belonging instead to Asparagus plumosus Baker, which might be the correct name for California plants as well. Jepson eFlora Author: Dale W. McNeal Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Asparagus officinalis subsp. officinalis Next taxon: Asphodelaceae
Citation for this treatment: Dale W. McNeal 2012, Asparagus setaceus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=14484, accessed on December 03, 2023.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2023, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 2023.
Geographic subdivisions for Asparagus setaceus:
SCo (urban canyons, San Diego)
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
