Asparagus scandens forest groundcover

This extended stand of Asparagus scandens was seen in November on the forest floor near a stream on the verge of the cultivated garden in Kirstenbosch.

The fresh green cladodes are evergreen, faring well in these favoured, shaded conditions. The thin, smooth leaflet-like stems lie neatly beside each other in one plane. A. falcatus grows similar cladodes but also bears spines, which A. scandens doesn’t.

It is totally untrue that tiny dancers appear on the asparagus fern on moonlit nights if music by Grieg is played, as too few moonbeams reach the ground.

Birds eat the orange-red berries and do their gardening bit by distributing the seed (http//pza.sanbi.org).