© Thomas Brendler
Asparagus umbellulatus Bresler, Liliaceae
Various Asparagus species are used (and cultivated) for their medicinal and food uses throughout the world. Best known is A. officinalis for its edible young shoots. Common to all A. species is their use as a diuretic. Further medicinal applications include as a diaphoretic, as a remedy for rheumatism and gout, for intestinal disorders, fevers, in ailments of the pulmonary tract and as an anthelmintic.
Climbing plant with slender stems, creeping or more or less erect. Cladodes green, grouped in 2–12 at nodes, 7–35 mm long. Flowers in groups of 2–20, white, more or less elliptic and membraneous. Fruit a reddish brown drupe, about 5 mm in diameter, containing 1–3 black hemispherical seeds.
A. umbellulatus contains alkaloids and the steroid hispidogenin.