A. densiflorus is a spiny perennial plant, persisting and spreading by fleshy rhizomes and roots bearing white tubers 2-3 cm long. Stems up to 2 m long are glabrous, green to brown, much-branched and ‘leafy’ but the clusters of flattened ‘leaves’ are in fact cladophylls about 2 cm long, 2-3 m wide. True leaves are represented by small scales at the base of the cladophylls. The stems also bear scattered straight spines, about 5 mm long, just below each branch. Flowers are in groups at the stem apices, white or pale pink, bell-shaped, with a corolla of 6 tepals and orange anthers. Fruit is a red berry 5-8 mm in diameter, containing one or a few seeds 3-4 mm in diameter (Parsons and Cuthbertson, 1992).
Related invasive species
- Asparagus densiflorus
Related Farm Practice
- Hosts
- Groups
A. densiflorus is a spiny perennial plant, commonly found in savanna thickets in its native environment in eastern Africa and South Africa. It has been widely introduced globally as an ornamental and has subsequently naturalised and become a problem in a number of countries, including the USA and Australia. The plant forms dense spiny mats, up to 2 m high in light and sandy soils, suppressing other ground flora and depleting the soil of nutrients and moisture. It may quickly invade disturbed sites in open sun or partial shade and can become a threat in coastal habitats, along river banks and in low fertility soils. It is among the most abundant invasive ornamental weeds of sandy beachfronts in Queensland, Australia and threatens natural vegetation on Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and a number of other islands in the Pacific Ocean. The risk assessment score for this plant in Australia is 3 (‘requiring evaluation’) and for the Pacific Islands it has a high score of 15. In Florida, USA it has been reported as displacing native ground cover, understory shrubs and the native wild coffee species Psychotria nervosa. It is also of sufficient concern for it to have been recommended for voluntary withdrawal from sale within the state (Wirth et al., 2004). In Hawaii, USA it is spreading along roadsides and invading secondary forest (PIER, 2008).
A. densiflorus is rarely a weed in any agricultural crop.