The 
BR EP LOW tH ER BS wae. 
itt: 
G EVN 
Ue Saeed ee 
ASPARAGUS, 
Aa Suathe.| A det Rage Za, elasn Uae 
"ge flower is formed of a fingle petal: this is oblong, hollow, and divided to the very bafe 
into fix narrow fegments ; three of which ftand inward, and turn back at the ends. 
There is 
nocup. The fruit is a round berry, with a dent at the top ; find 4 it is divided within into three cells, 
in each of which there are two feeds. 
Linnzus places this among the hexandria monogynia 5 the threads in the flower being fix, and the 
ftyle from the rudiment of the fruit fingle. 
Dal V, WSA.0O2N, ad: 
. 
1, Common Afparagus. 
Afparagus vulgaris. 
The root is compofed of a vaft number of 
long, thick, brown fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, of a pale green, 
and a yard high. The branches are regularly 
difpofed upon it: they begin about the middle, 
and grow fhorter from thence all the way up. 
The leaves are very numerous: they are ex- 
tremely flender, and of a pale green. 
The flowers are fmall, and of a greenifh white : 
they are placed on fhort footftalks upon the 
branches. 
The berries are large, and of a bright red. 
It is common wild about our weftern fea-coafts, 
and flowers in July. 
The young, fhoots there are thick and delicate; 
but in gardens culture renders them much larger 
and more tender. 
C. Bauhine calls it Afparagus. J. Bauhine, 
Afparagus bortenfis EB pratenfis ; and. others, 
Afparagus vulgaris. 
DIVISION I. 
1. Prickly Afparagus. 
Afparagus fpinofus. 
The root is sconce of numerous, thick 
fibres. ‘ 
The ftalks are firm, upright, round, gloffy, 
of a pale green, very much branched, and five 
feet high. 
The leaves are numerous, and of a’ fine deep 
green; four or five rife together on different parts 
5: the branches; and “they all terminate in 
prickles. 
The flowers are fmall and whitifh : 
on fhort footftalks, and foon fade. 
The berries are large, round, and red. 
It is common about hedges in Italy, and flowers 
in June. 
C. Bauhine. calls. it iene foliis acutis. 
Others, A/paragus [pinofus, and Corruda. 
Ne 32. 
they ftand 
BR IT,GS HS PE Cages 
It is a plant of great virtues. The fhoots, as 
we eat them at table, operate powerfully by urine, 
but the roots much more. A decoction of them 
is excellent againft the gravel ; and they alfo open 
obftructions of the vifcera, 
2. Thick-leaved Afparagus. 
Afparagus craffiore folio. 
The root is compofed of numerous, thick 
fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, and a yard high. 
The branches are regularly difpofed, as in the 
common kind. : 
The leaves are fhorter and thicker ; but they 
‘have no more breadth than in that. 
The flowers are whitifh, and the berries are of 
a bright red. 
It is found in our weftern counties near rivers 
that have falt-water from tides. It flowers in 
June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Afparagus maritimus craf- 
Sire folio. 
BAO. RYE IG: NSS PLE Gr BS, 
2. Starry-leaved Afparagus. 
Afparagus foliis fafciculatis. 
The root is fmall and fibrous. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, jomieéa and 
of a pale green, the joints being paler than the reft. 
The leaves are long; narrow, of a deép green, 
and fharp-pointed : they grow in clufters at’ the 
extremities and on the fides of the branches, like 
the rays of a ftar. 
The flowers are fmall and greenifh, 
The berries are large and red. 
It is a native of Africa, and flowers in July. 
Plukenet calls it A/paragus Africanus tenuifolius 
viminalibus virgis foliis laricis adinffar ex uno 
| punéto ftellatim difpofitis. 
The virtues of thefe feveral kinds are faid’ to 
be the fame with thofe of the common afparagus, 
but in-an inferior degree. 
40 GENUS 
