ee ee ee 
Tas. 8052. 
ASPARAGUS SPRENGER], 
Natal. 
Littacea. ‘T'ribe ASPARAGER, 
Asparacus, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 765; Baker in 
Journ, Linn, Soc, vol. xiv. 594. 
4. Sprengeri, Regel in Acta Horti Petrop. vol. xi. p. 302, et in Gartenfl. 
1890, p. 490, fig. 80; Baker in Thiselton-Dyer, Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 271; 
A, faleato, Linn., proximus, phyllocladiis linearibus et bracteolis lan- 
ceolatis acuminatis differt. 
Frutex scandens. Caulis teres, sulcatus, ramosissimus. Foliorwm aculei 
1-2 lin, longi, decurvi. Phyllocladia solitaria vel 2-4-natim aggregata, 
plana, linearia, recta vel leviter curvata, glabra, apice pungentia, ad 1} 
poll. longa, et 1 lin. lata. Flores racemosi, 3 lin. diam.; racemi solitarii 
vel geminati, 14 poll. longi; pedicelli medio articulati; bracteas lanceolate, 
acuminate, pedicellis dimidio breviores. Perianthium dilute carneum ; 
segmenta obovato-oblonga, interiora apice denticulata. Filamenta 
complanata, perianthii segmentis dimidio breviora; anther ovales, 
aurantiace. Ovarium oblongum, basi constrictum.—A. sthiopicus, var. 
ternifolius, Baker in Saunders, Refug. Bot. t.261. A. ternifolius, Hook. f. 
in Bot. Mag. t. 7728. 
An opportunity has here been taken of depicting the 
fruiting state of a plant, whose flowers were represented in 
t. 7728 under the name of A. ternifolius, Hook. f., a plant 
which is of as great decorative value when in fruit as in 
flower. It was first described by Regel from plants im- 
ported from Natal by Messrs. Dammann & Co., of Naples, 
from whom the Kew plant was originally obtained. It 
was also found in Natal by Mr. Thomas Cooper, who sent 
plants to the late Mr. Wilson Saunders, in whose collection 
it flowered. 
This species has been confused with A. falcatus, Linn., 
and A. xthiopicus, Linn. The former is a much more 
robust plant, which at Kew attains a height of thirty feet, 
while A. Sprengeri rarely exceeds four feet ; its phyllocladia 
also are broader and more rigid. From the latter it is 
distinguished by its usually less numerous phyllocladia 
and larger flowers with shorter filaments. The Indian 
A. gonocladus, Baker, is also closely allied, but its inner 
perianth-segments are not denticulate at the apex. 
Descr.—A climbing shrub, Stem terete, suleate, much- 
JANUARY Ist, 1906, 
