''Asparagus acutifolius'', common name wild asparagus, is an evergreen

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

plant belonging to the genus ''

Asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified ...

''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, , meaning "thorny leaves", is derived from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

(pointed, acute), and (-leaved), and refers to the characteristic shape of the leaves, a quite common feature in the typical plants of the Mediterranean.

Description

''Asparagus acutifolius'' reaches on average of height. The stems have much-branched feathery foliage. The "leaves" are in fact needle-like modified stems. The flowers are bell-shaped and in small clusters, greenish-white to yellowish, long. The flowers are

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

(on each plant they are only male or female). In some Mediterranean regions flowering occurs in late Summer from August through September, often after heavy storms. In this case the small green berries, of in diameter, are fully ripe in winter.

Gallery

Distribution

This species is present throughout the

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

Habitat

These plants grow near woods and in uncultivated places, on dry and sunny soil. They can be found at an altitude of above sea level.

References

* Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982 Vol. III. pg. 398

External links

Biolib
Acutifolius Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Dioecious plants {{Asparagaceae-stub