Asparagus rubicundus leaves

Asparagus rubicundus leaves or rather false leaves may be as short as 3 mm. On stems not so densely leafy as in this photo, the cluster shapes become clearer, almost two-dimensional with leaves more or less in a row. This is no longer maintained when clusters comprise up to ten leaves.

The pale turquoise is but one of the leaf colour options, the young stems here also initially adopting this leaf colour for a while. The mostly straight leaves seem to be ever so slightly thicker at their tips, tending towards club-shaped.

The ample clusters of short young stems are carried firmly by the dark, hard and bigger stem that presents one strong, recurving spine in picture (Bean and Johns, 2005).