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Montana Field Guides

Garden Asparagus - Asparagus officinalis
Other Names:  Sparrow Grass

Image Copyright and Usage Information
Non-native Species

Global Rank: G5?
State Rank: SNA
C-value: 1


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Rhizomatous glabrous perennial. Stems erect, branched, 60–150 cm. Leaves scale-like, each subtending 4–15 linear branchlets 8–25 mm long. Inflorescence of 1 or 2 pendent, pedicellate flowers in leaf axils. Flowers perfect or some unisexual, regular, campanulate; tepals 2–6 mm long, yellow-green, united below; stamens 6; ovary superior, 3-celled; style 1, 3-branched. Fruit a globose, red berry 5–8 mm wide with 2 to 4 seeds (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Non-native
 


Range Comments
A garden escape introduced from Europe throughout North America (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Habitat
Disturbed, moist grasslands, meadows, fields, roadsides; plains, valleys (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Management

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Boggs, K. W. 1984. Succession in riparian communities of the lower Yellowstone River, Montana. M.S. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman, 107 pp.
    • DuBois, K.L. 1979. An inventory of the avifauna in the Long Pines of Southeastern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 113 p.
    • Eggers, M.J.S. 2005. Riparian vegetation of the Montana Yellowstone and cattle grazing impacts thereon. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. 125 p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • Sater, S. 2022. The insects of Sevenmile Creek, a pictorial guide to their diversity and ecology. Undergraduate Thesis. Helena, MT: Carroll College. 242 p.
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Citation for data on this website:
Garden Asparagus — Asparagus officinalis.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from