Asparagus natalensis (Baker) J.-p.Lebrun & Stork

Tall, evergreen, glabrous climbers or forming a suffrutex in the open. Rhizome bearing long roots with tubers on side roots. Stems woody, pale grey, striate when young, becoming smooth with age; nodes thick, bearing spines, branches and branchlets. Spines small, exserted, present below branches, branchlets, cladode fascicles and flower fascicles. Branches and branchlets fairly short. Cladodes on branches, 1-4 per fascicle, persistent, linear, ±20 x 2 mm, apiculate, base narrowed into a discoid foot, firm, bright dark green, usually turning dark when dry. Inflorescences (flowering branchlet) long, compound or reduced to simple racemes, often with some cladodes present. Flower fascicles subtended by a small spine and small membranous bracts; outer tepals ciliate, white; stalk stout with a large membranous frilled disc in lower half. Stamens with yellow or pale orange anthers. Ovary with 6-8 ovules in each locule; globose; style and stigmas short. Berry red or orange.