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Perennial herbs or subshrubs, erect, scrambling or climbing, branched, rhizomatous. Roots fibrous, sometimes tuberous. Stems prickly or smooth, often slightly woody, aerial stems ±annual or perennial. Leaves alternate, reduced to persistent bracteate scales (bracts) subtending a number of axillary cladodes, often with a basal spine that is sometimes pungent; cladodes solitary or fasciculate, needle-or leaf-like, sessile. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, racemose or flowers solitary or clustered. Flowers (perianth) actinomorphic, bisexual or unisexual and then plants dioecious; pedicels articulated. Perianth segments/lobes petaloid (tepals; some references refer to sepals and petals in Asparagus) 6, in two whorls, equal, small, free or overlapping or fused at base forming a shallow tube, persistent. Stamens 6; filaments free or fused basally; anthers basifixed, 2-locular, introrse, dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 3-locular; ovules usually 2–12 per loculus; style 1, filiform; stigma capitate or minutely trifid. Fruit a berry; seeds 1–several, usually black, shiny.
Herbs, shrubs, or vines, perennial, from rhizomes, usually with fusiform tubers, often with fernlike appearance. Stems photosynthetic, erect, spreading or climbing, branched; cladophylls solitary or fasciculate, in nodes of reduced, scarious leaves. Leaves small, scale-like, membranous, or sometimes spiny with hardened base, subtending cladophylls. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, racemose, or umbellate, paired or solitary; racemes short. Flowers bisexual or unisexual; perianth greenish, white, or yellowish, campanulate to rotate; tepals 6, distinct or shortly connate basally, equal; stamens 6, distinct, equal; anthers versatile, 2-locular, dehiscence introrse; ovary superior, 3-locular, septal nectaries present; style 3-branched distally; pedicel with conspicuous joint. Fruits baccate, red or purplish black, globose, often with tepals persisting at base. Seeds 1–6, black, globose to angular. x = 10.
Herbs perennial or subshrubs, dioecious or hermaphroditic, usually with short rhizomes. Main stems erect or climbing, generally branched, with cladodes (leaflike stems) in axils of main stems and branches. Cladodes borne in clusters, rarely solitary, green, flat, 3-angled, or subterete. Leaves appressed to stem, not green, scalelike, base spurred, spurs often extended into spines. Inflorescence an axillary cluster of flowers, rarely a solitary flower, sometimes a raceme or umbel. Pedicel articulate, subtended by membranous bracteoles. Perianth campanulate or subglobose; segments free or occasionally connate at base. Stamens 6; filaments usually adnate to perianth segments in varying degrees; anthers dorsifixed. Ovary 3-loculed; ovules few per locule. Fruit a berry. Seeds 1 to few.
Evergreen or summer-green perennials, roots fleshy and cylindric or tuberous. Stems erect or climbing, branched, often woody. Leaves reduced, scale-like, often with basal spine, with solitary or fascicled needle or leaf-like cladodes characteristic for each sp. Flowers small, campanulate, usually axillary or terminal, solitary or in small fascicles, or racemose on special branches lacking cladodes; pedicels articulate; segments 6, ± similar, free or nearly so, spreading above. Berry 1-several seeded. Seeds globose or flat on one side. Spp. c. 300, of Africa, Europe, Asia and Malaysia. Adventive spp. 4.
Besides the above indigenous species, A.sprengeri Regel, from Natal, and A. plumosus Bak., from E. Africa, are cultivated as ornamental plants.
