Asparagus aethiopicus

Common Name: Sprenger's asparagus-fern

Family: Asparagaceae

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a-11

Growth Habit: Perennial herb

Origin: South Africa

FISC Category: 1

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: Earliest Florida specimen vouchered in 1968

IFAS Assessment:

• North: CAUTION
• Central: CAUTION
• South: CAUTION

Description

Evergreen perennial herb emerging from a crown of tuberous roots. Stems stiff or arching to 2 m long. Branchlets flat, needlelike, light to bright green to 2.5 cm long. Leaves tiny, scalelike, at bases of branchlets. Flowers, small, white or pink, fragrant. Fruit a bright red berry.

Habitat

Hammocks, scrub, beach dune, coastal berm, upland mixed forest, disturbed areas

Comments

Bird dispersed, salt tolerant, tolerant of low or high light conditions

Control Methods

• Manual: Mechanical: Cutting provides some control (IFAS, CAIP)
• Chemical: Foliar (1% glyphosate with 0.25% surfactant, retreatment necessary, IFAS, CAIP)
• Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

Dave's Garden. 2014. PlantFiles: Asparagus Fern, Asparagus densiflorus. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1850/. Accessed on June 20, 2014.

IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. 2014.Asparagus fern. http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/54. Accessed on June 26, 2014.

Langeland, K.A., H.M. Cherry, C.M. McCormick, K.C. Burks. 2008. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas-Second Edition. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Wunderlin, R. P., and B. F. Hansen. 2008. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/).[S. M. Landry and K. N. Campbell (application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research.] Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida, Tampa.