Flora of New Zealand Series

Asparagus

Summer-green dioecious perennial, with woody crown; roots long, cylindrical, fleshy. Stems 60-120 cm high, bright green, stiffly erect, ± woody below, branched above; shoots fleshy, edible. Scale-leaves scarious, 1-5 mm long, with short soft basal spur. Cladodes needle-like, 5-15 mm long, 2-8 at each node. Flowers axillary, 1-2-(4), greenish-yellow; pedicels drooping, 5-10 mm long; male flowers 5-6 mm long, stamens ± 3 mm long, ovary rudimentary; female flowers shorter, ± 4 mm long, stamens ± 1.5 mm long, functionless. Berry globose, ± 6-8 mm diam., red. Seeds 1-9, ± 3 mm diam., black.

N. Auckland - Auckland City, Katikati; Hawkes Bay. S. Canterbury; Otago. A persistent weed of cultivated land and gardens, occasional along roadsides and on waste sections, rarely along river banks and in slat meadows.

(Europe, W. Asia, Siberia, N. Africa, but the natural distribution obscure owing to cultivation)

First record: Kirk 1870: 143.

First collection: Remuera, T. F. Cheeseman, undated [pre-1923] ().

FL. 11-12.