Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Fig. 130. Asparagus natalensis, from Mega, Sidamo floristic region.
ASPARAGUS 299
Description Plants climbing or scandent shrub to 2.5–3 m high. Branches
glabrous to puberulous, striated when young. Spines 5–8 mm
on main branches; spinules below the flowers 1–4 mm long.
Cladodes solitary, or fasciculate 2–6 in a cluster, 15–25 × 1–3 mm.
Inflorescences (modified flowering branchlets often with cladodes
or compound racemes), 1.5–15 cm long. Flowers in fascicles of 2–6;
pedicel 3–4 mm long, articulated in the middle or below. Perianth
white to cream, c. 3 mm long, outer segments ciliate at the margin.
Fruit globose, 9–10 mm in diameter, red, 1­seeded.
Habitat and
distribution
The species occurs in open Acacia-Commiphora
woodland, mixed deciduous woodland with species
of Acacia, Tarchonanthus camphoratus and Barbeya
oleoides, edge of evergreen scrub between 1100 and 1900
m. It is recorded from Gamo Gofa, Sidamo and Harerge
floristic regions. It is otherwise found in Somalia, Kenya,
Uganda extending to Natal in South Africa. The main
flowering period in Ethiopia is from February to May and
also possibly in October to December.