Asparagus setaceus (Kunth) Jessop, Asparagaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

Reject, score: 16 (Go to the risk assessment (Australia))
High risk, score: 13 (Go to the risk assessment (Pacific))

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: wen zhu

English: asparagus fern, climbing asparagus fern, ferm asparagus, lace fern, lacy asparagus fern

French: asperge plumeuse

Samoan: lau lili‘i, lau lili‘i, lau nini‘i, lau nini‘i

Spanish: creston

Tongan: taupo‘ou

Habit:  vine

Description:  "Woody climber to ca 5 m. Roots fibrous. Cladodes numerous per axil, finely acicular, apiculate, 4-7 mm long, 0.5 mm wide; cladodes and lateral branches arranged in the same plane. Scale leaves spine-like but not indurated. Flowers single or paired, terminal on ultimate branches, ±pendent, 5-7 mm diameter, greenish white; pedicels 1-2.5 mm long, articulated at base or just above. Sepals and petals 3-4 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide. Stamens 2.5-3.5 mm long; filaments 2-3 mm long; anthers 0.5 mm long, yellow. Ovary globose, 2 mm diameter; style 0.5-1 mm long, trifid. Berry 4-5 mm diameter, black. Seed 1, 2.5-3.5 mm diameter." (Clifford and Conran, 1987).

Recently published work revealed that Asparagus setaceus and Asparagus plumosus can be "distinguished by the arrangement of the cladodes: all in 1 plane (A. plumosus) or radiating in many planes (A. setaceus).  If this classification is followed, then the plant widespread in cultivation is to be called A. plumosus; the genuine A. setaceus (Kunth) Jessop is not in cultivation"  (Imada, Staples & Herbst, 2000; p. 13).  Therefore, see Asparagus plumosus for most Pacific listings.

Habitat/ecology:  Commonly planted as an ornamental or for use in flower arrangements. Naturalizes in dry to moist forest.

Propagation:  Seed. Fruits spread by birds. Older plants spread by means of long, slender rhizomes.

Native range:  Southern Africa.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced	Pickard, J. (1984) (p. 204)
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Rota Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 100)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Palmerston (Avarau) Island		Sykes, Bill (year unknown)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Rotuma Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1991) (voucher ID: BISH 638023) Taxon name on voucher: Asparagus setaceus (Kunth) Jessop
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Mangareva (Gambier) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Huahine Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 65)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 352) Vouchers cited: Fosberg & Sachet 63224, Moore 577
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: J. Florence 3513 (PAP) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Taha‘a Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R. (1997) (p. 65)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 352) Voucher cited: Grant 4336
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Tuamotu Archipelago	Makatea (Ma‘atea) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: J. Florence 9108 (PAP). "Naturalisé sur karst en forêt secondarisée à Tecoma-Pandanus" Naturalisée
French Polynesia Tuamotu Archipelago	Takapoto Atoll	introduced cultivated	Sachet, M-H. (1983) (p. 16)
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rurutu Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1987) (p. 100)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Majuro (Mãjro) Atoll	introduced cultivated	Vander Velde, Nancy (2003) (p. 41)
Nauru Nauru Island	Nauru Island	introduced cultivated	Thaman, R. R./Fosberg, F. R./Manner, H. I./Hassall, D. C. (1994) (p. 55) Voucher cited: Hassall 169 (SUVA)
New Caledonia Îles Loyauté (Loyalte Islands)	Île Tiga	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 93) Vouchers cited: MacKee 45887 (cv. "Cupressoides")
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 93) Vouchers cited: MacKee 18383, MacKee 41090 (cv. "Cupressoides"), MacKee (cv. "Pyramidalis")
Niue Niue	Niue Island	introduced cultivated	Space, James C./Waterhouse, Barbara M./Newfield, Melanie/Bull, Cate (2004) (p. 10)
Tonga Ha‘apai Group	‘Uiha Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (2001) (voucher ID: PTBG 257) Taxon name on voucher: Asparagus setaceus
Tonga Tonga Islands	Tonga Islands	introduced invasive	Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (pp. 79-80) "Occasional to frequent throughout Tonga".

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced invasive cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Commonly cultivated and occasionally becoming naturalized.
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 357) Ornamental.
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Healy, A. J./Edgar, E. (1980) (p. 52) "N. Auckland City, escapes from gardens to a limited extent; Bethlehem, near Tauranga, well established in farm hedges"; voucher cited: A. E. Esler (CHR 274362)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 16) Cultivated only

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
British Indian Ocean Territory Chagos Archipelago	Diego Garcia Island	introduced cultivated	Whistler, W. Arthur (1996) (p. 32)

Comments:  A serious weed on Lord Howe Island (Clifford and Conran, 1987)

Additional information:
Photos at University of Florida, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants.
Photo and additional information at the Environment Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, web site of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

Additional online information about Asparagus setaceus is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Asparagus setaceus as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Asparagus setaceus may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1991. Voucher specimen #BISH 638023 (McClatchey, W.C. 291).

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R. 1997. Preliminary checklist of the flowering plants and ferns of the Society Islands. Ed. by David R. Stoddart. U. Cal. Berkeley.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1987. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian monocotyledonae. Micronesica 20:1-126.

Healy, A. J./Edgar, E. 1980. Flora of New Zealand, Volume III: Adventive cyperaceous, petalous & spathaceous monocotyledons. Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand. 220 pp.

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.). 2001. Voucher specimen #PTBG257(Tim Flynn 6878).

Pickard, J. 1984. Exotic plants on Lord Howe Island: Distribution in space and time, 1853-1981. J. of Biogeography 11:181-208.

Sachet, M-H. 1983. Takapoto Atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago: terrestrial vegetation and flora. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 277. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. 41 pp. + photos.

Space, James C./Waterhouse, Barbara M./Newfield, Melanie/Bull, Cate. 2004. Report to the Government of Niue and the United Nations Development Programme: Invasive plant species on Niue following Cyclone Heta. UNDP NIU/98/G31 - Niue Enabling Activity. 80 pp.

Sykes, Bill. 0. Bill Sykes, pers. com.

Thaman, R. R./Fosberg, F. R./Manner, H. I./Hassall, D. C. 1994. The flora of Nauru. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Atoll Research Bulletin 392:1-223.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Vander Velde, Nancy. 2003. The vascular plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Atoll Research Bulletin No. 503:1-141.

Welsh, S. L. 1998. Flora Societensis: A summary revision of the flowering plants of the Society Islands. E.P.S. Inc., Orem, Utah. 420 pp.

Whistler, W. A. 1991. The ethnobotany of Tonga: The plants, their Tongan names, and their uses. Bishop Museum Bulletin in Botany 2. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 155 pp. ISBN 0-930897-57-9.

Whistler, W. A. 2000. Plants in Samoan culture: The ethnobotany of Samoa. Isle Botanica. 234 pp. ISB: 0-9645426-6-8.

Whistler, W. Arthur. 1996. Botanical survey of Diego Garcia, Chagos Archipelago, British Indian Ocean Territory. Isle Botanica. 49 pp.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Yuncker, T. G. 1959. Plants of Tonga. Bishop Museum Bull. 220. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 343 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).