Spiny asparagus
Asparagus horridus
Family · Asparagaceae · Irritating
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The wild asparagus of the south, sturdier and far better armed than the common one, with rigid spines that genuinely wound. It gives thicker shoots and is preferred by asparagus gatherers in Andalusia and eastern Spain.
Scrubland · Dunes and sand · Walls and rocks · Montado
Also known ashorrid asparagus
How to tell it
A tangled shrub with hard, straight, long spines, much bigger than common wild asparagus's. Stiff green branchlets instead of leaves. Thick shoots in spring. Red berries in winter. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
Wild asparagus
Asparagus acutifolius
The spine decides: small and soft on common wild asparagus, long and rigid here. Both give edible shoots, and this one gives them thicker.
What it is for
The shoots are eaten like common wild asparagus's, and are meatier. The red berries are not eaten. Harvest by snapping the shoot by hand, and carefully: this species' spines do damage.
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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