Vegetative key to the families
Vegetative Key Vegetative key to the families
LEAVES REDUCED TO SCALES ON THE AERIAL STEMS
Chlorophyll present (some root parasites with a yellowish tinge in the cladodes)
Scale-leaves all bearing leaf-like cladodes in the axils Asparagaceae
Cladodes terete, c. 5 mm diam.
Flowers unisexual. Stems erect, not spiny. Leaves reduced to membranous scales each subtending 3 unequal filiform cladodes. Cladodes 5–30 mm long. Flowers solitary in the scale axils, greenish white, 4–8 mm diam., on filiform pedicels 6–15 mm long. Fruit a red berry. Introd. from Europe. Garden escape in waste ground near towns. Fl. spring–summer. Asparagus Asparagus officinalis
Flowers bisexual