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Asparagus officinalis (garden asparagus)

Wikipedia Abstract

Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennial plant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. Asparagus officinalis is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, and is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.
View Wikipedia Record: Asparagus officinalis

Infraspecies

Asparagus officinalis subsp. officinalis
Asparagus officinalis subsp. prostratus (Attributes)

Invasive Species

Garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is described as a persistant weed of cultivated land in its introduced range. It is found growing in waste places and along roadsides. It is classified as invasive in New Zealand and the Galapagos islands.
View ISSG Record: Asparagus officinalis

Attributes

Height [2]  4.9 feet (1.5 m)
Width [2]  29 inches (0.75 m)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [3]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [3]  Intermediate
Soil Moisture [3]  Moist
Bee Flower Color [1]  Green
Flower Color [1]  Green
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Dioecious
Hazards [2]  Large quantities of the shoots can irritate the kidneys; The berries are mildly poisonous;
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [2]  Bees
Structure [4]  Herb
Usage [2]  The plant contains asparagusic acid, which has nematocidal properties;
View Plants For A Future Record : Asparagus officinalis

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Map Climate Land Use
Algonquin Provincial Park IV 1868802 Ontario, Canada
Arches National Park II 76539 Utah, United States
Archipelago de Colon Biosphere Reserve 34336011 Galapagos Islands, Ecuador  
Assateague Island National Seashore II 8621 Maryland, United States
Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve Zapovednik Ia 167827 Astrakhan, Russia
Avon Gorge Woodlands 376 England, United Kingdom
Badlands National Park II 178535 South Dakota, United States
Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area National Recreation Area V 120283 Kentucky, Tennessee, United States
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area V 36286 Montana, Wyoming, United States
Breckland 18652 England, United Kingdom
Bruce Peninsula National Park II   Ontario, Canada
Burnham Beeches 946 England, United Kingdom  
Canyonlands National Park II 335430 Utah, United States
Carlsbad Caverns National Park II 15448 New Mexico, United States
Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries/ Bae Caerfyrddin ac Aberoedd 163340 Wales, United Kingdom
Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve 310228 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, United States      
Chickamauga & Chattanooga Nat'l Military Park National Military Park V 8248 Georgia, Tennessee, United States
Colonial National Historic Park National Historical Park V 9316 Virginia, United States
Dünen Dabendorf 47 Germany  
Death Valley National Park II 762125 California, Nevada, United States
Dorset Heaths 14161 England, United Kingdom
Dorset Heaths (Purbeck and Wareham) and Studland Dunes 5491 England, United Kingdom
Essex Estuaries 114016 England, United Kingdom
Fenland 1529 England, United Kingdom
Fire Island National Seashore V 9433 New York, United States
Fort Union Trading Post National Hist. Site National Historic Site III 24 Montana, United States
Galichia Gora Zapovednik Ia 568 Lipetsk, Russia
Gateway National Recreation Area V 1807 New Jersey, United States
George Washington Birthplace National Monument V 435 Virginia, United States
Gettysburg National Military Park V 3560 Pennsylvania, United States
Great Smoky Mountains National Park II 515454 North Carolina, Tennessee, United States
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park 177278 Hawaii, United States
Hobcaw Barony (North Inlet) National Estuarine Research Reserve 7585 South Carolina, United States
Homestead National Monument of America V 850 Nebraska, United States
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site III 861 Pennsylvania, United States
Humber Estuary 90582 England, United Kingdom
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore II 8272 Indiana, United States
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park III 2897 Georgia, United States
Khopersky Zapovednik Ia 47103 Russia  
Knife River Indian Villages National Hist. Site National Historic Site III 1756 North Dakota, United States
Kouchibouguac National Park II 59161 New Brunswick, Canada
Limestone Coast of South West Wales/ Arfordir Calchfaen de Orllewin Cymru 3940 Wales, United Kingdom  
Mammoth Cave Area Biosphere Reserve (Natn'l Park) National Park II 51235 Kentucky, United States
Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve 5901 California, United States  
Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve 470167 Ontario, Canada  
North Norfolk Coast 7926 England, United Kingdom  
Oconee National Forest Botanical Reserve 306 Georgia, United States  
Okskiy Biosphere Reserve 190748 Russia  
Palava Protected Landscape Area V   Czech Republic  
Pen Llyn a`r Sarnau/ Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau 360832 Wales, United Kingdom
Pipestone National Monument V 326 Minnesota, United States
Point Pelee National Park II 5764 Ontario, Canada
Reserva de la Biosfera de Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve V 1777 Spain  
Richmond National Battlefield Park III 1517 Virginia, United States
Riverland Biosphere Reserve Ia 1490891 South Australia, Australia
Rocky Mountain Biosphere Reserve II 239938 Colorado, United States
Rondeau Provincial Park II 5035 Ontario, Canada
Roosevelt Vanderbilt National Historic Site   New York, United States        
Saint Lawrence Islands National Park II   Ontario, Canada
Saratoga National Historical Park   New York, United States
Scotts Bluff National Monument V 3185 Nebraska, United States
Sefton Coast 11278 England, United Kingdom
Severn Estuary/ Môr Hafren 182155 England/Wales, United Kingdom
Shiloh National Military Park III 4061 Tennessee, United States
Solent Maritime 27985 England, United Kingdom
South Wight Maritime 49082 England, United Kingdom
Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserve 37548505 North Carolina, Tennessee, United States  
The New Forest 72309 England, United Kingdom
The Wash and North Norfolk Coast 266284 England, United Kingdom
Tsentral'no-Chernozemny Biosphere Reserve Ia 13064 Kursk, Russia
Ukrainskii Stepnoi Zapovednik Nature Zapovednik Ia 2920 Ukraine  
Upper Miss. River Nat'l Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge VI 25823 Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, United States
Valley Forge National Historical Park VI 3509 Pennsylvania, United States
Voronezhskiy Biosphere Reserve 95835 Russia  
Western Michigan University's Asylum Lake Preserve 274 Michigan, United States
Wind Cave National Park II 29471 South Dakota, United States
Zion National Park II 135667 Utah, United States

Ecosystems

Predators

Actebia fennica (black army cutworm)[5]
Agrotis ipsilon (black cutworm)[5]
Agrotis malefida (palesided cutworm)[5]
Agrotis subterranea (granulate cutworm)[5]
Aonidiella aurantii (California red scale)[6]
Aphis fabae (Bean aphid)[7]
Aspidiotus nerii (ivy scale)[7]
Closterotomus norwegicus[8]
Crioceris asparagi (asparagus beetle)[7]
Discestra trifolii (clover cutworm)[5]
Estigmene acrea (saltmarsh caterpillar)[5]
Helicoverpa zea (bollworm)[5]
Hemiberlesia lataniae (latania scale)[6]
Hystrix cristata (African porcupine)[9]
Lacanobia subjuncta[5]
Maconellicoccus hirsutus (pink hibiscus mealybug)[6]
Melanchra adjuncta[5]
Melanchra picta (zebra caterpillar)[5]
Neogalea sunia (lantana stick caterpillar)[5]
Nipaecoccus viridis (karoo thorn mealybug)[6]
Ophiomyia simplex (asparagus miner)[7]
Papaipema nebris (stalk borer)[5]
Paracles brunnea[5]
Peridroma saucia (variegated cutworm)[5]
Phiala arrecta[5]
Phtheochroa pulvillana[5]
Pinnaspis strachani (lesser snow scale)[6]
Platyparea poeciloptera <Unverified Name>[7]
Plioreocepta poeciloptera[7]
Pseudaletia unipuncta (armyworm)[5]
Saissetia coffeae (brown scale)[6]
Spaelotis clandestina (Clandestine Dart)[5]
Spilosoma virginica (yellow woollybear)[5]
Spodoptera dolichos[5]
Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm)[5]
Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm)[5]
Spodoptera latifascia (Lateral Lined Armyworm)[5]
Spodoptera ornithogalli (yellowstripe armyworm)[5]
Trichoplusia ni (cabbage looper)[5]
Trichordestra legitima (striped garden caterpillar)[5]
Trichordestra lilacina[5]

Providers

Pollinated by 
Anthemois centuncularis <Unverified Name>[10]
Apis mellifera (honey bee)[10]
Chloralictus versatus <Unverified Name>[10]
Chloralictus zephyrus <Unverified Name>[10]
Oxystoglossa similis <Unverified Name>[10]

Institutions (Zoos, etc.)

    Maps
Institution Infraspecies / Breed 
Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Distribution

Europe to Mongolia, NW. Africa; Western Michigan University’s Asylum Lake;

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Photos

Citations

Species recognized by Govaerts R., 09-Jul-2004, WCSP: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families in Catalog of Life 2011
Attributes / relations provided by ♦ 1Arnold SEJ, Faruq S, Savolainen V, McOwan PW, Chittka L, 2010 FReD: The Floral Reflectance Database — A Web Portal for Analyses of Flower Colour. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14287. ♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons License ♦ 3ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999) ♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935 ♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández ♦ 6Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009 ♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants ♦ 8New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database ♦ 9THE HABITS AND INFLUENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE OLD WORLD PORCUPINE Hystrix cristata L. IN THE NORTHERNMOST PART OF ITS RANGE, L. Santini, Proceedings of the 9th Vertebrate Pest Conference (1980), University of Nebraska - Lincoln ♦ 10Robertson, C. Flowers and insects lists of visitors of four hundred and fifty three flowers. 1929. The Science Press Printing Company Lancaster, PA.
Invasive Status provided by Global Invasive Species Database Downloaded on 10 May 2011.
Protected Areas provided by Biological Inventories of the World's Protected Areas in cooperation between the Information Center for the Environment at the University of California, Davis and numerous collaborators. ♦ GBIF Global Biodiversity Information Facility ♦ Carlsbad Caverns National Park ♦ Natura 2000, UK data: © Crown copyright and database right [2010] All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100017955 ♦ Western Michigan University’s Asylum Lake
Images provided by Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons License
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Weather provided by NOAA METAR Data Access
Institution information provided by Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway Ministry of Agriculture and Food - February 2013