T28.° 7755. 
ASPARAGUS vumsettatvus. 
Native of Madeira and the Canary Islands. 
Nat. Ord. Littacem.—Tribe AspakaGEaZ, 
Genus Asparacus, Lina.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p, 765.) 
Asparacus (Asparagopsis) umbellatus; caule gracili scandente, ramis deflexis 
elongatis suleatis v. polygonis scaberulis, internodiis brevibus, foliis 
brevibus deltoideo-calcaratis v. obsoletis, cladodiis fasciculatis 3-10-natig 
acicularibus v. fere filiformibus obscure trigonis acuminatis glabris v. 
subscaberulis luride viridibus, pedicellis axillaribus solitariis et ad apices 
ramulorum umbellatis 3-} poll. longis longe infra medium _articulatis, 
bracteis minutis subulatis, floribus pro genere magnis, perianthii cam- 
pete segmentis 3 poll. longis anguste oblongis obtusis albis recurvis, 
lamentis supra basin segmentorum insertis illis brevioribus, antheris 
_ majusculis oblongis aureis, ovario imperfecto fusiformi perfecto obo- 
_ voideo stylo elongato, stigmatibus 3-recurvis, ovulis numerosis, bacca ad 
3 poll. diam. monosperma, semine nigrescente. 
A. umbellatus, Link in Buch, Beschreib. Canar. Ins. p. 140. Buch, Allgem. 
Uebericht. Fl. Canar. Ins., p. 162. Webb & Berth. Phyt. Canar. vol. iii. 
part ili. p. 327, t. 227. Kunth, Enum. Pl. vol. v. p. 79. 
A. umbellatus, var. scaber, Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xiv. (1875) 
p- 611. ; 
A. grandiflorus, Willd. Herb. ex Webb. & Berth. l.c. Bresl. Gen. Asparag. 
Hist. n. 23. 
A. dichotomus, Brouss. er Webb. & Berth. l.c. 
A. scaber, Lowe in Trans. Camb. Phil. Soc. vol. iv. (1831); Primit. et Novit. 
Fl. Mader. p 11. 
A. Lowei, Kunth, l. c. 
Asparacorsis umbellata & grandiflora, Kunth, l. c. pp. 73, 79. 
Asparagus umbellatus is remarkable for the large size of 
its flowers, which are usually collected in simple umbels at 
the tips of the branchlets. It is a native of rocky places 
in the Island of Madeira and the Canaries, where it was 
discovered (in the Canaries) by Francis Masson, F.L.S., the 
first collector sent out from the Royal Gardens, Kew, under 
Sir Joseph Banks’ auspices in 1778, to that Archipelago 
and the Azores. It was subsequently found in Madeira. 
It has for many years been cultivated in the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, where, in the Temperate House, it is trained up one 
of the pillars for about twelve feet, flowering in September, 
and ripening its fruit in the same month of the following 
year. 
SerremBer Ist, 1900. 
