Click on images to enlarge
infestation in a wetland area in Sydney (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit in fruit (Photo: Jackie Miles and Max Campbell)
close-up of flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
mature fruit (Photo: Jackie Miles and Max Campbell)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Jose Hernandez at USDA PLANTS Database)
thornless older stems (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
densely branched upper parts of stems with numerous fine 'leaves' (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of needle-like 'leaves' borne in clusters along the stems (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Scientific Name
Asparagus officinalis L.
Family
Asparagaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Western Australia)Liliaceae (Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory)
Common Names
asparagus, asparagus fern, edible asparagus, florist's fern, garden asparagus, green asparagus, white asparagus, wild asparagus
Origin
Native to northern Africa (i.e. Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), Europe (i.e. Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, France, Portugal and Spain), western Asia (i.e. Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, western Russia and Kazakhstan), Mongolia and north-western Mongolia.
Naturalised Distribution
This species is occasionally naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in south-eastern Queensland, eastern New South Wales, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and south-western Western Australia). Also naturalised in many other parts of the world (i.e. in northern Europe, New Zealand, western USA and South America).
Notes
This commonly grown vegetable plant that has escaped cultivation and is an emerging weed of disturbed sites, waste areas, wetlands and watercourses (i.e. riparian areas). It is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and a minor or potential environmental weed in Western Australia, New South Wales, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia.
Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is present in conservation areas in several states (e.g. Cleland Conservation Park and Black Hill Conservation Park in South Australia, Yarra Bend Park in Victoria, and the Lake Macquarie State Conservation Area in New South Wales). It is also thought to pose a serious threat to one or more plant communities in Victoria (e.g. dune soak woodlands) and infestations in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges region in South Australia have become more apparent in recent years.
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