About Asparagus lignosus Burm.f.
Asparagus lignosus Burm.f. is a rigid, upright shrub that grows up to 80 centimeters tall. Its branches are zig-zagged, and colored pale grey-green to white. Each node along the branch bears a single recurved thorn that measures 5 millimeters long. Stiff, linear, cylindrical, spine-tipped leaves grow in tufts, and are between 10 and 20 millimeters long. The flowers are white, with a green stripe on each tepal, and have orange anthers. Flowers appear either singly or in pairs.
This species is indigenous to the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Its range extends from Clanwilliam in the far north-west and Cape Town in the west, eastwards across the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, to as far as Mossel Bay in the south-east. It grows on rocky sandstone slopes, and in rocky loamy soils in fynbos or renosterveld vegetation on lower slopes and flats.
