Wild asparagus
Asparagus acutifolius
Family · Asparagaceae · Harmless
The thin bitter shoot that half the country hunts for in spring, hidden under a grey spiny bush. Gathering wild asparagus is a seasonal ritual, with spots kept secret.
Scrubland · Montado · Walls and rocks · Oak woods
Also known assharp-leaved asparagus
How to tell it
A tangled grey-green bush with small stiff prickly branchlets instead of leaves. In spring it sends up thin vertical green shoots, which are the asparagus. Red berries in winter.
What it is confused with
Rough bindweed
Smilax aspera
They share the scrub and the prickles. Rough bindweed is a climber with broad heart-shaped leaves and tendrils; wild asparagus has no broad leaves at all.
What it is for
The shoots are eaten in omelette, rice or stew, in Portugal and Spain. The red berries are not eaten. Harvest by snapping the shoot by hand, without pulling up the plant.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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