| Synonyms: |
Protoasparagus buchananii (Baker) Oberm. |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | |
| Description: |
Climbing or scandent shrub 1–3 m high. Branches glabrous, shiny yellowish-brown to purplish. Spines on stems straight, reflexed, flattened at base, 7–35 mm long, those on branches and branchlets smaller. Cladodes on short branchlets in fascicles of 2–6, unequal in length, filiform, 10–25(30) mm long, usually absent at anthesis; stipules lacerated (not intact). Inflorescence simple, rarely a compound raceme 20–70 mm long. Tepals white, 2.5–3 mm long, reflexed with age. Stamens with anthers yellow or dark. Ovary with c.4 ovules in each locule, dark, narrowed below, obtuse above; style short, with 3 short obtuse stigmas. Berry rounded to obovate, 6–7 mm in diameter, 1–3-seeded. |
| Type location: |
Malawi |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | buchananii: after John Buchanan (1855 – 1896), Scottish horticulturist, missionary, farmer and plant collector in Malawi, who became Acting British Consul to Central Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchanan_(settler). |
| Habitat: | |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | Mar - Jun |
| Worldwide distribution: | Angola, Botswana, Burundi, DR Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Growth form(s): | Perennial. |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Literature: |
Champluvier, D. et Maquet, P. (1988). Liliaceae Flore du Rwanda Spermatophytes Volume IV Page 38. (Includes a picture). Demissew, S. (2008). Asparagaceae Flora Zambesiaca 13(1) Page 24. Ntore, S. & al. (2024). Checklist of the vascular plants of Burundi Page 56. Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 115. White, F. (1962). Forest Flora of Northern Rhodesia Oxford Univ. Press. Page 15. As Asparagus racemosus |