Species
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Asparagus aethiopicus L.

African Asparagus, Asparagus Fern, Bushy Asparagus, Foxtail Fern

Climate known 60 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Asparagus aethiopicus, Sprenger's asparagus, is a plant native to the Cape Provinces and the Northern Provinces of South Africa. Often used as an ornamental plant, it is considered an invasive weed in many locations. Asparagus fern, asparagus grass and foxtail fern are common names; however, it is unrelated to true ferns. A. aethiopicus has been confused with A. densiflorus, now regarded as a separate species, so that information about A. aethiopicus will often be found under the name A. densiflorus.

Text from Wikipedia, “Asparagus aethiopicus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Asparagus

Asparagus or garden asparagus is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. In 2024, world production of asparagus was 8.9 million tonnes, led by China with 87% of the total.

Text from Wikipedia, “Asparagus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Cape Provinces, Northern Provinces
Wild records
93 in range· 31 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Feb, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
568mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Apr 64 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–48DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January to May and September to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 568 mm a year, wettest April at 64 mm, driest February at 35 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 6.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Asparagopsis aethiopica (L.) Kunth; Asparagopsis lancea (Thunb.) Kunth; Asparagus aculeatus Voss; Asparagus densiflorus var. sprengeri (Kunth) Jessop; Asparagus laetus Salisb. and 3 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (January to May and September to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (414 mm of 568 mm) takes 8 months, March to May and July to November. Mean temperature moves 7.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: January to May and September to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 568 mm a year, wettest April at 64 mm, driest February at 35 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

568 mm a year at the habitat, 414 mm of it March to May and July to November. Wettest month April at 64 mm, driest February at 35 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 375 mm to 1026 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 48 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 16, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 6.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 6.9 °C, the absolute minimum 4.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 10.3 °C in July (across the envelope cells 5.3 °C to 13.0 °C), warmest day 23.7 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 17 °C in Jul to 24 °C in Feb; mean night from 10 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 568 mm of rain a year, most in Apr. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 75 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.6 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°35.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.6° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 17–48RH 56–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 75 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C23 / 21–2924 / 21–2923 / 20–2721 / 19–2420 / 17–2318 / 16–2017 / 15–2018 / 15–2118 / 16–2219 / 17–2421 / 18–2622 / 20–28
Night °C17 / 15–1918 / 16–1916 / 14–1815 / 12–1613 / 9–1511 / 6–1410 / 5–1311 / 6–1311 / 8–1413 / 10–1514 / 12–1616 / 14–18
Rain mm39 / 23–8535 / 20–7447 / 26–8264 / 38–8547 / 24–10740 / 23–13645 / 23–14961 / 31–11746 / 23–8055 / 32–9549 / 29–9440 / 25–86
DLI48 / 43–5242 / 38–4735 / 32–3826 / 25–2820 / 19–2217 / 16–1918 / 17–2123 / 22–2631 / 30–3238 / 35–4245 / 41–4948 / 44–53
RH %62 / 55–6463 / 56–6563 / 56–6562 / 56–6459 / 53–6356 / 52–6056 / 51–6059 / 54–6261 / 55–6261 / 56–6362 / 55–6362 / 54–64

Each figure is the median across the 75 grid cells holding the 92 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2481:3975 (-34.075, 18.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.1 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 75 distinct grid cells holding the 92 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2481:3975 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -34.00_18.750, lapse-corrected -196 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 13 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCape Provinces, Northern Provinces· introduced: Baleares, France, Spain, Italy, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Nauru, New Caledonia, Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Florida, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Uruguay
Kew's description“climbing perennial” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-34.365, 19.11 · in the densest population, 74 records (80% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 93 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 31 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 333 km away. 878 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 93 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Asparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicusAsparagus aethiopicus

Photographs: (c) Nicola van Berkel, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (8).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Asparagus aethiopicus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Alien plant invasions and native plant extinctions: a six-threshold framework
Paul Downey, David M. Richardson (2015) · AoB Plants
Enhancing Sustainability by Improving Plant Salt Tolerance through Macro- and Micro-Algal Biostimulants
Petronia Carillo, Loredana F. Ciarmiello, Pasqualina Woodrow, Giandomenico Corrado (2020) · Biology
A second update to the checklist of the vascular flora alien to Italy
Gabriele Galasso, Fabio Conti, Lorenzo Peruzzi, Alessandro Alessandrini (2024) · Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology
An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa
A.K. Welcome, B.-E. Van Wyk (2018) · South African Journal of Botany
Transcriptomics of Biostimulation of Plants Under Abiotic Stress
Susana González-Morales, Susana Solís-Gaona, Marin Virgilio Valdés-Caballero, Antonio Juárez‐Maldonado (2021) · Frontiers in Genetics
Bioactivities of Traditional Medicinal Plants in Alexandria
Hosam O. Elansary, Agnieszka Szopa, Paweł Kubica, Halina Ekiert (2018) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Advances in 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Priming to Enhance Plant Tolerance to Abiotic Stress
Shuya Tan, Jie Cao, Xinli Xia, Zhonghai Li (2022) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Application of seaweed extracts to mitigate biotic and abiotic stresses in plants
Bharath Raja, R Vidya (2023) · Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants
Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Natural Compounds
Letizia Angiolella, Gianni Sacchetti, Thomas Efferth (2018) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Asparagus 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 36 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.