Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Bridal Creeper

(Asparagus asparagoides)

galery
en

Description

Asparagus asparagoides, commonly known as bridal creeper, bridal-veil creeper, gnarboola, smilax or smilax asparagus, is a herbaceous climbing plant of the family Asparagaceae native to eastern and southern Africa. Sometimes grown as an ornamental plant, it has become a serious environmental weed in Australia and New Zealand. Asparagus asparagoides grows as a herbaceous vine with a scrambling or climbing habit which can reach 3 m (10 ft) in length.It has shiny green leaf-like structures (phylloclades) which are flattened stems rather than true leaves. They measure up to 4 cm long by 2 cm wide. The pendent white flowers appear over winter and spring, from July to September. It is rhizomatous, and bears tubers which reach 6 cm (2.4 in) by 2 cm (1.8 in) in size. It ranges throughout tropical Africa, south to Namibia, and the fynbos in South Africa, as far south as Cape Town. It has become naturalised in parts of southern California and Australia, where it is considered an invasive plant.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order:Asparagales
Family:Asparagaceae
Genus:Asparagus
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