| Tasmania has
three introduced species of Asparagus. These are much
branched, erect or scrambling herbs with photosynthetic stems and
leaves reduced to cladodes - in A. asparagoides these
cladodes are leaf-like, but in the other species they are
very fine and narrow; giving the species a fern-like appearance.
The flowers are small, white and occur in the leaf axils. The fruit
is small and fleshy (often reddish). Asparagus was once considered to be part of Liliaceae, which was
a very artificial grouping of plants and has therefore been
splintered in numerous families. To see the fates of the other
Tasmanian genera formerly in Liliaceae click
here. |
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