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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Asparagus
asparagoides
smilax,
bridal creeper
Family
ASPARAGACEAE
Reproduced from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Ian Popay, Paul Champion & Trevor James
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher.
Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Nationwide Book Distributors
Scrambling or
twining perennial that grows up to 3 m tall in supporting shrubs
or hedges. The 'leaves' are actually green, flattened cladodes that
resemble leaves. Flower small, greenish-white, followed by red berries.
- Flowers Greenish-white,
5-6 mm long, singly or in pairs in the leaf axils. Flowers July-Aug.
- Fruit Round
red berry, 6-10 mm in diameter. Two to eight black seeds, about
2 mm in diameter.
- Leaves Light
green cladodes (green, flattened stems that resemble leaves),
solitary at each node, 10-35 mm long by 4-15 mm wide, flattened,
ovate, pointed, with about seven prominent veins.
- Stems Tortuous,
green or slightly woody and brownish up to 3 m long, branches
spreading, rough angles.
- Roots White,
fleshy, tuberous, in dense underground clusters.
Habitat
Hedges, coastal slopes,
road-side banks and abandoned quarries.
Distribution
Common in the northern
half of NI, diminishing southwards. Found at Kerikeri and Dargaville
in North Auckland, Auckland, Hawkes Bay (Napier) and in the Manawatu.
In SI at Nelson City, Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. Originally
from South Africa.
Comments
Listed on the National
Pest Plant Accord (see Introduction for details).
Derivation
of botanical name
Asparagus (Lat.)
= asparagus; asparagoides (Lat.) = asparagus-like.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
- AgPest
- A free tool to assist farmers and agricultural professionals in decision-making regarding weed and pest identification, biology, impact and management.
 New Zealand Weeds Key
- An interactive identification key to the weeds of New Zealand. Developed at Landcare Research.
New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network naturalised plants
- Search for information on more than 2500 naturalised and weedy plants.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
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