新疆天门冬 xin jiang tian men dong

Herbs dioecious. Roots slender. Stems suberect, densely branched, to 1 m, usually slightly striate, usually covered with stripelike remains of whitish, hyaline periderm when old; branches slightly striate when young. Cladodes usually in fascicles of 7--25, filiform, 0.5--1.7 cm × ca. 0.3 mm, irregularly grooved, usually several fascicles at each node of stem. Leaf spur slightly spinescent; spine 2--3 mm on main stems, very short or indistinct on branches. Inflorescences developing after cladodes. Flowers of both sexes solitary or paired; pedicel 1--1.5 cm. Male flowers: perianth campanulate, 5--7 mm; filaments adnate to perianth segments for ca. 1/2 their length. Female flowers: perianth ca. 3 mm. Berry red, 6--7 mm in diam., 1--3-seeded. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Aug.

Thickets, grassy slopes, river banks, sandy flats of rivers; 600--1700 m. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia (E Siberia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan].

One of us (Tamanian) notes that Asparagus neglectus is very similar to, and may be synonymous with, A. trichophyllus.