Asparagaceae
E. Van Jaarsveld and U. Eggli
Perennial shrubs or subshrubs, often scrambling
or climbing, with herbaceous to woody perennial
or annual shoots; rhizome short, sympodial,
R sometimes succulent and fusiform; stems wiry
and tough, rarely twining, sometimes spiny, and
Sp derived from modified lateral branches or
leaves, usually with lateral branches transformed
into leaf-like phylloclades, or modified stems
(assimilatory structures) fasciculate, green, slen-
der and needle-like; L often reduced to scale-like
structures, spurred; Fl small, actinomorphic, soli-
tary or in umbellate or racemose Inf, hermaphro-
dite or unisexual (then plants dioecious); Tep
3 + 3, white, yellow or green, free and spreading
or basally fused to form a campanulate perigone;
male and hermaphrodite flowers with 3 + 3 St, Fil
free or fused with the tepals; Anth introrse,
dorsifixed; Ov superior, 3-locular, placentation
axile with 2–12 ovules per locule; Sty short; Sti
capitate or lobed; Fr globose red, blue or white
berries; Se globose, black.
Order: Asparagales
E. Van Jaarsveld
Department of Biodiversity and Conservation, University
of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa
e-mail: Ernst@babylonstoren.com
U. Eggli (*)
Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich, Grün Stadt Zürich,
Zürich, Switzerland
e-mail: Urs.Eggli@zuerich.ch
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019
U. Eggli, R. Nyffeler (eds.), Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Monocotyledons,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-56324-3_33-1
Important Literature: Kubitzki & Rudall
(1998: synopsis).
Distribution: Widely distributed in the Old
World, rare in the New World (only Hemiphylacus
in Mexico).
The Asparagaceae s.s., in old traditional clas-
sifications included in the Liliaceae, are widely
distributed in the Old World. They occur mainly
in semi-arid to arid mediterranean climates, and
taxa with xeromorphic adaptations such as succu-
lent tuberous roots are common. Photosynthesis
occurs mainly with green branches and branchlets
(phylloclades), and true leaves are reduced to
scales. The small family embraces only 2 genera,
Asparagus and Hemiphylacus (Kubitzki & Rudall
1998). Hemiphylacus (native to Mexico) counts
5 species (none succulent) and Asparagus
embraces the majority of the 200 ( 290?) spe-
cies of the family. Older treatments of the family
recognized Protasparagus and Myrsiphyllum as
separate genera (e.g. Obermeyer & al. (1992)), but
the differences between them and Asparagus are
only minor (Malcomber & Demissew 1993;
Fellingham & Meyer 1995).
Recent years saw a movement towards ex-
panding the circumscription of the family, and
APG (2009) as well as Chase & al. (2009) pro-
posed to subsume Agavaceae, Anthericaceae,
Eriospermaceae, Hyacinthaceae and Ruscaceae
(including Dracaenaceae and Nolinaceae) under
a vastly expanded family Asparagaceae. Here we
1
2 E. Van Jaarsveld and U. Eggli
follow Nyffeler & Eggli (2010) and Judd &
al. (2016) and accept a narrow circumscription
of Asparagaceae. A broadened Asparagaceae is
phylogenetically not more correct than the tradi-
tional family concepts, which are therefore
retained.
Economically important plants include Aspar-
agus officinalis Linné (“Garden Asparagus”, used
as vegetable) as well as A. setaceus (Kunth)
Jessop (“Fern Asparagus”, used by florists for
decoration). Only a few species of Asparagus
can be considered succulent due to their succulent
roots.
References
APG (2009) An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
classification for the orders and families of flowering
plants: APG III. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161(2): 105–121.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x.
Chase, M. W. [& al. 2009], Reveal, J. L. & Fay, M. F.
(2009) A subfamilial classification for the expanded
Asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and
Xanthorrhoeaceae. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161(2): 132–136.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00999.x.
Fellingham, A. C. & Meyer, N. L. (1995) New combina-
tions and a complete list of Asparagus species in south-
ern Africa (Asparagaceae). Bothalia 25(2): 205–209.
https://doi.org/10.4102/abc.v25i2.728.
Judd, W. S. [& al. 2016], Campbell, C. S., Kellogg, E. A.,
Stevens, P. F. & Donoghue, M. J. (2016) Plant system-
atics: A phylogenetic approach. Ed. 4. Sunderland
(US): Sinauer Associates.
Kubitzki, K. & Rudall, P. J. (1998) Asparagaceae. In:
Kubitzki, K. (ed.): The families and genera of vascular
plants; 3: 125-129, ills., key. Berlin (DE) etc.: Springer-
Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03533-7_15.
Malcomber, S. T. & Sebsebe Demissew (1993) The status of
Protasparagus and Myrsiphyllum in the Asparagaceae.
Kew Bull. 48(1): 63–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/
4115749.
Nyffeler, R. & Eggli, U. (2010) An up-to-date familial and
suprafamilial classification of succulent plants.
Bradleya 28: 125–144. https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-
35243.
Obermeyer, A. A. [& al. 1992], Immelmann, K. L. & Bos,
J. J. (1992) Dracaenaceae, Asparagaceae, Luzuriagaceae
and Smilacaceae. In: Leistner, O. A. (ed.): Flora of South-
ern Africa, Vol. 5, part 3. Pretoria (ZA): National Botanic
Institute.
Index Terms:
Asparagaceae 1
Asparagus officinalis 2
Asparagus setaceus 2