Vegetable asparagus

The vegetable asparagus, also called common asparagus or Asparagus officinalis, belongs to the genus Asparagus (Asparagus). The actual area of distribution of asparagus lies in the temperate regions of Southern and Central Europe, North Africa and the Near East.

Vegetable asparagus is a deciduous and perennial plant. It forms a rhizome from which fleshy, spirally tipped, whitish or slightly reddish shoots emerge. These stems grow to a height of between 60 cm and 1.5 m. The vegetable asparagus flowers in June and July. The berries of Asparagus officinalis are scarlet in color and slightly poisonous.

Asparagus officinalis is the parent plant of Asparagi rhizoma, the rootstock (with roots) dug, dried and cut in the fall, which has been positively monographed by the E Commission.