Asparagus lignosus

Asparagus lignosus ("Katdoring") is a thorny, spindly creeper of the Asparagus genus, that is indigenous to the Western Cape Province of South Africa.[1]

Asparagus lignosus
Asparagus lignosus has pale-to-white branches and tufts of cylindrical leaves.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Asparagoideae
Genus: Asparagus
Species:
A. lignosus
Binomial name
Asparagus lignosus

Description

A rigid, upright shrub reaching 80 cm in height. The branches are zig-zagged, and pale grey-green to white.

At each node along the branch, there is a single recurved 5mm thorn.

The stiff, linear (length 10-20mm), cylindrical, spine-tipped leaves are in tufts.

The flowers are white with a green strip on each tepal. The anthers are orange. They appear singly or in pairs.[2]

This species is part of a group of closely related African Asparagus species, including Asparagus rubicundus, Asparagus concinnus and Asparagus microraphis.[3]

Distribution

This species is indigenous to the Western Cape Province, South Africa.

Its distribution is from Clanwilliam in the far north-west and Cape Town in the west, eastwards across the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, as far as Mossel Bay in the south-east.

It occurs in rocky sandstone slopes, as well as rocky loamy soils in fynbos or renosterveld vegetation on lower slopes and flats.

References
  1. Asparagus lignosus distribution - Redlist
  2. Obermeyer, A.A. & Immelman, K.L, (1992). Flora of southern Africa, Volume 5, Part 3: 59, 60. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
  3. Maria F Norup, Gitte Petersen, Sandie Burrows, Yanis Bouchenak-Khelladi, Jim Leebens-Mack, J Chris Pires, H Peter Linder, Ole Seberg. (2015). Evolution of Asparagus L. (Asparagaceae): Out-of-South-Africa and multiple origins of sexual dimorphism. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 92: 25-44.

Further reading
  • Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.


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