Asparagus macowanii Baker

Erect, glabrous shrub 1-2 m high, seeking support when very tall. Rhizome woody with many swollen main roots clustered around it. Stems smooth with short recurved spines below, spines suppressed above. Branches 1-several from an enlarged node, spreading, bearing numerous short branchlets terminating in globose cladode fascicles (often from twin buds). Cladodes ±127 cm a fascicle, more or less equal in size, ±15 mm long, deciduous, surrounded at base by 2 or 3 ovate, membranous bracts, pale green. Flowers profuse, in fascicles on young branches, usually appearing before cladodes are fully developed; tepals oblong, ±3 mm long, white; stalk ±5 mm long, articulated in lower half. Stamens with linear filaments and yellow anthers. Ovary with ±4 ovules in each locule; attenuate below; style and stigmas short. Berry probably ±12 mm in diameter.