''Asphodeline lutea'' (king's spear, yellow asphodel) is a

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

native to southeastern Europe, northern Africa, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. It is grown as a landscaping plant. It has been associated with the Asphodel of the Ancient Greek underworld,Robert Graves. The Common Asphodel 1949
/ref> but so has the closely related '' Asphodelus ramosus''.

Description

''Asphodeline lutea'' reaches tall and wide. The grey-green leaves are tall, with the flower stalk growing bearing a dense raceme of bright yellow flowers.

History

''Asphodeline lutea'' was introduced into the

University of Oxford Botanic Garden The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest Botanical garden, botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal resear ...

in 1648, even though it demonstrated no known uses that are typical of a

physic garden A physic garden is a type of herb garden with medicinal plants. Known since at least 800, they are the predecessors of botanical gardens. History Modern botanical gardens were preceded by medieval physic gardens, often monastic gardens, that ...

(plants grown for medicinal use). One of the curators of the garden at the time, John Parkinson, said the plant was "not... used in Physicke for any purpose." The locals in the Mediterranean who were interviewed by Parkinson said that that plant had "no... propertie appropriate unto it but knavery," with no explanation of the particular knavery of which the plant was guilty. The description in the Botanic Garden used the old name of ''Asphodelus lutea''.

References

External links

Kew Plants of the World OnlineIPNI Listing
Asphodeloideae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Garden plants Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Caucasus Flora of Algeria Flora of Tunisia {{Asphodelaceae-stub