128 Plant Protection Quarterly Vol.21(3) 2006 dioecious species examined had on aver- age twice the genome size of the South Af- Review of the current taxonomic status and rican hermaphroditic species and, based on internal transcribed spacers of nuclear authorship for Asparagus weeds in Australia ribosomal DNA, the species can be divided into two clusters, one of European species Kathryn L. Batchelor and John K. Scott, CSIRO Entomology, Private Bag 5, and the other of southern Africa species. PO Wembley, Western Australia 6913, Australia. Both Lee et al. (1997) and Stajner et al. Email: [email protected], [email protected] (2002) did not use outgroup taxa in their analyses. This issue and a larger sam- ple size (24 species) were addressed in a study by Fukuda et al. (2005) of the mo- Summary Systematic taxonomy of genera lecular phylogeny of Asparagus inferred Over the last 20 years, many scientifi c within the Asparagaceae from plastid petB intron and petD-rpoA papers and reports have been produced The debate over whether the Asparagace- intergenic spacer sequences. They found outlining the establishment, distribution ae contains one genus Asparagus with or evidence supporting a monophyletic ori- and weed status of Asparagus weeds in without subgenera, or up to 16 separate gin of Asparagus and the sub-division of Australia. Differing use of authorship genera has been going for over 200 years. Asparagus into more than three groups. and species names are present in this lit- The taxonomic history of the Asparagace- The Eurasian species of Asparagus formed erature resulting in confusion over which ae is well covered in recent papers. Clif- a monophyletic group, whereas the south- species are actually present. This paper ford and Conran (1987a,b,c) follow Ober- ern African species are potentially para- examines the taxonomic status and au- meyer’s (1983) treatment of the southern phyletic, comprising more than the two thorship of the eight Asparagus species African Asparagaceae species and use the groups (Myrsiphyllum e.g. A. asparagoides naturalized in Australia: A. aethiopicus three genera Asparagus, Myrsiphyllum and (L.) Druce and Protasparagus e.g. A. plu- L., A. africanus Lam., A. asparagoides (L.) Protasparagus for Asparagaceae species in mosus Baker and A. aethiopicus L.) that are Druce, A. declinatus L., A. offi cinalis L., Australia. Malcomber and Sebsebe De- currently recognized in some taxonomic A. plumosus Baker, A. scandens Thunb., missew (1993) determined that the charac- treatments. A. asparagoides is the most dif- and A. virgatus Baker. Asparagus aspara- ters used to separate Protasparagus and As- ferent from all other Asparagus species. goides is found in two forms, one with paragus were insuffi cient and they should The Australian native, A. racemosus is most a widespread distribution and a second both be treated as the sub-genus Asparagus similar to southern African species. form, currently of restricted distribution under the genus Asparagus, with Myrsi- in South Australia and Victoria. There phyllum Willd. also retained as a sub-ge- Current taxonomy of Asparagus are at least nine other Asparagus species nus. Fellingham and Meyer (1995) agreed weeds in Australia in cultivation or present in Australian with Malcomber and Sebsebe Demissew Asparagus aethiopicus L. herbariums, but they are not known to (1993), but found the characters used to SYNONYMS: Protasparagus aethiopicus (L.) be naturalized in bushland. Clarifi cation warrant Myrsiphyllum’s sub-generic status Oberm., Asparagus lanceus Thunb., As- of the nomenclature of Asparagus species to be inconsistent and returned all south- paragus sprengeri Regel and a better understanding of the phy- ern African species to the genus Asparagus CULTIVARS: ‘Sprengeri’ logeny within the family will assist in with no sub-genera. All subsequent papers COMMON NAMES: Sprengers fern, as- the management and policy decisions on on Asparagus have followed Fellingham paragus fern. weed control for each species, for exam- and Meyer’s (1995) treatment. Generally NATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Western and ple, the nomination of various Asparagus the family Asparagaceae is considered to Eastern Cape regions of South Africa. species as target species for biological comprise the one genus Asparagus (Klein- DISTRIBUTION IN AUSTRALIA: Coastal control. jan and Edwards 1999). However, Hemi- northern New South Wales (inc. Lord phylacus, a small Mexican genus, is possi- Howe Island) and southern Queens- Introduction bly included in the family based on recent land, South Australia and Western The family Asparagaceae consists of one evidence from embryology, cytology and Australia. genus, Asparagus, under current taxonom- molecular analyses (Rudall et al. 1998). NOTES: In Green’s (1986) examination of ic revisions and includes approximately the correct name for A. sprengeri, listed as a 120 species mostly of southern African, Evidence from molecular phylogeny synonym of A. densifl orus by Jessop (1966), European and Asian origin. Australia has Three studies have examined the molecu- he found the species to be a cultivar of A. one native species, Asparagus racemosus lar phylogeny of Asparagus species, how- aethiopicus and not A. densifl orus. Green’s Willd., located in far northern Queens- ever two of the studies only included a (1986) assessment was not reflected in land, Northern Territory and northern small number of species. Lee et al. (1997) Obermeyer and Immelman’s (1992) review Western Australia, which has a distribu- examined the phylogenetic relationships of southern African Asparagaceae where tion that extends to north-eastern South of 10 species in the genus Asparagus using they list A. densifl orus as having two cul- Africa, northern Botswana and Namibia. chloroplast DNA. Their research raises the tivars – ‘Sprengeri’ and ‘Myersii’. Follow- All other Asparagaceae in Australia are possibility that dioecy and polyploidy in ing Green (1986), the name A. densifl orus is introduced from southern Africa and Eu- the Asparagus is monophyletic in origin, no longer current in Australian Herbaria, rope (one species, A. offi cinalis L., crop as- but they concede variability in nuclear but the species does exist in cultivation as paragus). At least eight of these species DNA and the inclusion of many more A. densifl orus cv ‘Myersii’. However, the have naturalized in southern and/or cen- Asparagus species is required to further climate-based prediction for A. aethiopicus tral eastern Australian bushlands where understand the taxonomy and evolution and A. densifl orus (Kunth) Jessop indicates they have become environmental weeds. of this genus. Stajner et al. (2002) exam- that Australian material might be more ap- This paper summarizes the taxonomy of ined the nuclear genome size and genetic propriately named A. densifl orus. Asparagus species naturalized in Australia similarity of 10 species of Asparagus based and identifi es issues that require further on their potential application for cross- Asparagus africanus Lam. research. breeding with crop asparagus, Aspara- SYNONYMS: Protasparagus africanus gus offi cinalis. They found the European (Lam.) Oberm. Plant Protection Quarterly Vol.21(3) 2006 129 COMMON NAMES: Asparagus fern NATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Western edge cladodes and branchlets in the one plane, NATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Coastal West- of the Western Cape and Northern and if fruit colour is not important, then ern Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu- Cape regions of South Africa. the specimens are probably A. plumosus. Natal regions of South Africa. DISTRIBUTION IN AUSTRALIA: South- But, the fruit characteristics are usually re- DISTRIBUTION IN AUSTRALIA: Coastal west Western Australia, South-west liable at specifi c level (Jessop 1966) there- South-east Queensland where it is a se- and south-central South Australia (in- fore the confusion in Australian species rious weed (Conran and Forster 1986). cluding Kangaroo Island). still remains. A review of the herbarium NOTES: Obermeyer and Immelman (1992) specimens is required to determine wheth- describe A. africanus as ‘up to 0.6 m or Asparagus offi cinalis L. er there is an error in the description or that more high’. Australian material appears to CULTIVARS: examples ‘Mary Washing- Australia does have both species natural- be much larger implying that it would be ton’, ‘Edulis’, ‘Purple Passion’, ‘Atlas’, ized. worthwhile verifying the identifi cation. It is ‘Jersey Giant’ ‘UC157’. likely that A. africanus, being found in both COMMON NAMES: Asparagus, crop as- Asparagus scandens Thunb. Mediterranean and subtropical climates in paragus, garden asparagus, edible as- SYNONYMS: Myrsiphyllum scandens southern Africa (Obermeyer and Immel- paragus. Thunb. (Oberm.), Asparagus pectinatus man 1992), will need to be re-examined as NATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Southern Eu- Del., Asparagopsis scandens (Thunb.) it may contain more than one species. rope, Northern Africa. Kunth., Asparagus scandens var. defl ex- DISTRIBUTION IN AUSTRALIA: south- us Baker. Asparagus asparagoides (L.) Druce ern Western Australia, southern South COMMON NAMES: Asparagus fern, SYNONYMS: Medeola asparagoides L., Australia, Victoria, New South Wales climbing asparagus fern. Myrsiphyllum asparagoides (L.) Willd., and southern Queensland. NATIVE DISTRIBUTION: Western Cape Asparagus medeoloides Thunb., Elide region of South Africa. asparagoides (L.) Kerguélen, Dracaena Asparagus plumosus Baker DISTRIBUTION IN AUSTRALIA: South- medeoloides L.f., Elachanthera sewelliae SYNONYMS: Protasparagus plumosus west