Asparagus declinatus

Asparagus declinatus, the bridal veil or krulkransie (curling wreath) in Afrikaans is a branched, straggling winter grower. It produces annual stems of about 1 m from a rhizomatous rootstock.

The green cladodes resembling needle-leaves droop in whorls of three from the ends of soft side-branchlets. The real leaves of this plant are just scales, a phenomenon characterising the Asparagus genus. The cladodes, pseudo-leaves or flattened stems still managed to land the plant the colloquial name of bridal veil. They photosynthesise like leaves and other green plant parts.

The plant in picture is bearing green, ovoid fruit. These fruits will turn white when ripe and produce three to nine black seeds each.

The distribution of A. declinatus is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula northwards through the Northern Cape into Namibia and as far east as Riversdale. This photo has been taken at the end of August in the Tinie Versfeld Wildflower Reserve near the west coast. 

The habitat is fynbos, renosterveld and coastal scrub in sandy soil. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Wikipedia; ww.weeds.org.au; http://redlist.sanbi.org).