Io ASPARAGUS 
mental. The stems are perennial, terete, dark brown, 
woody, one-half inch in diameter at the base, very 
spinous, freely branched, and branches zigzag and 
gray, the leaves in clusters one-fourth inch apart, hair- 
like, one and one-half inches long, bright green, per- 
sistent. Flowers axillary, many in a cluster, small, 
campanulate, white. Berries globose, dull red, one 
seeded, one-sixth of an inch in diameter. Common 
in various parts of South Africa. It is an excellent 
pillar plant. 
A. racemosus.—This species is spread throughout 
the tropics of Africa and Asia; the Cape form of it is 
represented at Kew under the name of variety ¢etra- 
gonus, as shown in Fig. 5. This is a vigorous grower, 
with woody stems nine feet long, prickly at the base, 
fawn colored, freely branching above, each branch 
having at its base a sharp spine three-quarters of an 
inch long. The leaves are of a gray-green hue, four- 
angled, one-quarter of an inch long. Flowers in 
racemes two inches long, whitish, very fragrant. Berry 
red, globose, pulpy, one-seeded. An excellent climber 
for rafters, pillars, etc., growing vigorously under 
ordinary treatment. Its root system is a dense mass 
of tubers. 
A. sarmentosus (Fig. 6).—An elegant evergreen 
species from South Africa, where it grows freely in 
mcist situations, forming dense, brushy stems with short 
prickles, and studded with white, starry, fragrant flow- 
ers, which are followed with bright scarlet, pea-like 
berries ; has stems four feet high, freely branched and 
clothed with dark green flat leaves three inches long. 
