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Montana Field Guide

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).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 19

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



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.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Garden Asparagus"
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Citation for data on this website:
Garden Asparagus — Asparagus officinalis.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from