Tas. 8751. 
ASPARAGUS FALcatus. 
Ceylon; Tropical and Extratropical South Africa. 
LintaceakE. Tribe ASPARAGEAE. 
Asparacus, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 765. 
Asparagus falcatus, Linn. Spec. Plant. ed. i. p. 449; Bresler, Gen. Aspar. 
Hist. no. 2; Kunth, Enum. Plant. vol. v. p. 71; Baker in Journ. Linn. 
Soc. Bot. vol. xiv. p. 626, in Dyer, Fl. Cap. vol. vi. p. 271 (partim), et in 
Dyer, Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. vii. p. 485 (partim) ; Hook. in Trim. Handb. FI. 
Ceyl. iv. p. 285 ; species ex aflinitate A. Sprengeri, Regel, a qua cladodiis 
falcatis latioribus differt. 
Frutex late vagans. Caules robusti, teretes, lignosi; rami tenues, flexuosi, 
teretes, lignosi, straminei. Folia caulium in spinas validas pungentes 
patentes mutata. Cladodia lateralia 1-3-nata, ad ramorum apices 
6-8-nata, lanceolata, faleata, 4-5 cm. longa, 83-5 mm. lata, laete virentia, 
firma. Racemi axillares, 1-3-nati, 5 cm. longi; pedicelli 1-3-nati, medio 
articulati,. 2-8 mm. longi; bracteolae ovatae, quam pedicelli dimidio 
breviores. Flores albi, suaves. Perianthium campanulatum; segmenta 
patentia, oblonga, obtusa, integra, 2 mm. longa. Stamina perianthio 
paullo breviora; antherae minutae. Ovarium ovoideum, basi con- 
strictum ; stylus brevis, rotunde 8-lobus. Bacca globosa, 6 mm. diametro, 
saepius 1-sperma.—A. foliis falcatis, etc., J. Burm. Thes. Zeyl. p. 36, t. 13, 
fig. 2. A. aethiopicus, var. ternifolius, Baker in Gard. Chron. 1872, 
p- 1588, fig. 338; nec in Saund. Ref. Bot. t. 261.—C. H. Wricur. 
The Asparagus here figured is an old garden plant 
which has long been in cultivation as a greenhouse 
climber. It is a native of Ceylon, where it is known as 
the Hatawariya. This, however, is an outlying locality 
for the species, though it happened to be the region from 
which the species was originally known, for it occurs also in 
Tropical Africa and in the Eastern region of South Africa 
outside the Tropics. As its nearest ally, A. Sprengeri, 
Regel, is a native of the last mentioned region the 
possibility of our plant being an early introduction to 
Ceylon should not be overlooked. There is a fine 
example of A. falcatus in the Temperate House at Kew 
which forms a screen thirty feet high, clothing a staircase 
at the northern end of the building. In those seasons in 
JAN.—~Marcu, 1918 
