Asparagus lignosus ("Katdoring") is a thorny, spindly creeper of the Asparagus genus, that is indigenous to the Western Cape Province of South Africa.[3]
A rigid, upright shrub reaching 80 cm in height. The branches are zig-zagged, and pale grey-green to white.
At each node along the branch, there is a single recurved 5mm thorn.
The stiff, linear (length 10-20mm), cylindrical, spine-tipped leaves are in tufts.
The flowers are white with a green strip on each tepal. The anthers are orange. They appear singly or in pairs.[4]
This species is part of a group of closely related African Asparagus species, including Asparagus rubicundus, Asparagus concinnus and Asparagus microraphis.[5]
This species is indigenous to the Western Cape Province, South Africa.
Its distribution is from Clanwilliam in the far north-west and Cape Town in the west, eastwards across the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, as far as Mossel Bay in the south-east.
It occurs in rocky sandstone slopes, as well as rocky loamy soils in fynbos or renosterveld vegetation on lower slopes and flats.
Asparagus lignosus ("Katdoring") is a thorny, spindly creeper of the Asparagus genus, that is indigenous to the Western Cape Province of South Africa.
