Asparagus flower
Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Common
Name

Scientific
Name

Plant
Family

Garden
Location

Prime
Season
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis L.
Liliaceae (lily)
Upland
Spring flowering to fall berries
Other names and notes
(Wild Asparagus). Asparagus has naturalized itself throughout the United States. The plant is erect with branching from the main stem and can grow to 7 feet in height, from underground rhizomes that are spreading and form colonies. The plant looks just like your garden asparagus, and when left to grown, the central stem reaches upward and develops side branches. From these side branches develop whorls of small very short branchlets (see photo below left and far below right). At the base of the whorl in May and June come the flowers in opposite pairs. They are greenish to white, 6 part, stalked, oblong tepals forming a tubular or bell shape, about 1/3" long. They are either all male or all female (dioecious). Male flowers have 6 stamens and have the bell shape. Female flowers have the pistil with a style and are more tubular. Pollination is by insects. The flowers mature to a round red berry 1/8 to 1/4" in diameter that contains several seeds. The foliage is feathery with tiny scale leaves that are not true leaves. The plant needs full sun and moist to slightly dry soil such as found in upland places, fields and open woods.
Asparagus flower Asparagus leaf Asparagus in Fall
Above: The bell shaped male flowers appearing just below the whorled branchlet. Photo ©David G. Smith, Delaware Wildflowers. Above: The short branchlet whorls give a feathery appearance. Above: As the plant matures, the branchlets drop away and only the branching structure remains with the fruit.
Below: Mature berries of Autumn. Note on the top of each berry are the remains of the tepals of the flower.
Below: The red berries of Autumn with some of the branchlet whorl still remaining on the branch.
Asparagus berries
Asparagus berry closeup
 
 

Notes: Asparagus is an introduced garden plant from the old world that is found in all the lower 48 states and the lower Canadian Provinces. In Minnesota it is found in the wild in most counties with widely scattered exceptions. It is considered indigenous to the Garden.

Lore and Medicinal Use: Asparagus is known in Europe from ancient times. In England it was not widely found but as far back as 1597 it was noted by Gerard (Gerard's Herball). It was common in Greece and was apparently cultivated by the Greeks and Romans. Pliny the Elder references it growing near Ravenna. The plant itself is known to have diuretic and laxative qualities and Culpepper gives the following use, among others, in The English Physician: "The decoction of the roots boiled in wine, and taken, is good to clear the sight, and being held in the mouth easeth the toothache." Harrington references the use of the roasted and ground seeds of asparagus as a coffee substitute but notes that an earlier work by Fernald cautions that the seeds may be poisonous. Tilford also attests to this and adds that asparagus, like broccoli and spinach "contain potentially carcinogenic alkaloids - but you would have to eat a truckload ... over a short period of time to experience any poisoning effect. Coffee contains thirteen or so 'toxic' alkaloids." [see reference list for complete reference details]

  
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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.  
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