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Asparagus racemosus; photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-08-09

Asparagus racemosus Willd.

Asparagus-fern; Bottlebrush Asparagus

Asparagaceae · Burkina, Ghana +47

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Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Shikha Sreenivas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Shikha Sreenivas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Shikha Sreenivas, some rights reserved (CC BY)Asparagus racemosus, photograph (c) Shikha Sreenivas, some rights reserved (CC BY) 68 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.4°C
Record low 10.6 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Oct, Nov and Dec at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,425mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
33–45DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September (December to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Asparagus racemosus (shatavari, asparagus fern) is a species of asparagus native from Africa through southern Asia, including the Indian subcontinent, to northern Australia. It grows 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) tall and prefers to take root in gravelly, rocky soils high up in piedmont plains, at 1,300–1,400 m (4,300–4,600 ft) elevation. It was botanically described in 1799.88

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Asparagus racemosus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Asparagus

Asparagus or garden asparagus is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. In 2024, world production of asparagus was 8.9 million tonnes, led by China with 87% of the total.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Asparagus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,118 mm of 1,374 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.9 °C against a yearly mean of 26.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

1,374 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,118 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 323 mm, driest month August at 2 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 958 mm to 1,861 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,425 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,374 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 33 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.4 °C, the absolute minimum 10.6 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.6 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 14.4 °C to 22.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.3 °C in November (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -32 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Asparagus racemosus through the yearWarmest months October, November and December, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 19.6 °C; 1,374 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.0°10°20°30°40°50°41.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER10.6° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 33–45RH 55–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 543 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 29–3330 / 29–3230 / 28–3330 / 27–3330 / 26–3328 / 24–3128 / 24–3129 / 24–3330 / 26–3531 / 28–3731 / 29–3631 / 29–34
Night °C25 / 22–2725 / 22–2725 / 21–2724 / 19–2623 / 17–2520 / 15–2420 / 14–2320 / 15–2323 / 17–2525 / 19–2626 / 20–2726 / 22–27
Rain mm323 / 140–429302 / 164–400265 / 111–320103 / 50–18223 / 10–825 / 1–283 / 1–242 / 0–208 / 2–2528 / 14–7184 / 48–159228 / 127–318
DLI35 / 33–4034 / 32–3736 / 34–3836 / 32–3835 / 29–3633 / 27–3434 / 28–3538 / 32–3942 / 38–4445 / 41–4743 / 41–4738 / 36–43
RH %65 / 60–6766 / 61–6763 / 59–6659 / 55–6357 / 50–6255 / 47–6155 / 47–6156 / 47–6258 / 50–6359 / 52–6360 / 56–6363 / 59–65

Records on both sides of the equator: the 133 cells at least 10° north of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 543 cells that remain: the 506 at least 10° south and the 37 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 543 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (720 records in those cells; 9 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2045:6296 (-12.275, 134.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.6 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 543 distinct grid cells holding 720 of the 885 in-range records (9 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out) on the southern side of the equator (133 cells poleward of 10° north, 506 poleward of 10° south: the two sides' seasons are not combined, and cells within 10° of the equator stay in); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2045:6296 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -12.50_135.000, lapse-corrected -32 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 11 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBurkina, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Oman, Yemen, Tibet, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia · introduced: Mauritius, Rodrigues, Jamaica, Trinidad-Tobago · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-12.47, 131.074 · in the densest population, 407 records (32% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1262 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 720 of them in the land cells it reads, of 885 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1109 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 104 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 377 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1262 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Asparagus racemosus, photograph 1did not loadAsparagus racemosus, photograph 2did not loadAsparagus racemosus, photograph 3did not loadAsparagus racemosus, photograph 4did not loadAsparagus racemosus, photograph 5did not loadAsparagus racemosus, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Ravuri Krishna Chaitanya, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Shikha Sreenivas, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Celtis philippensis Celtis philippensis Wight's hackberry Photo: CC0, author not statedAdenia heterophylla Adenia heterophylla Passifloraceae Photo: CC BY, Kai SquiresIxora timorensis Ixora timorensis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioOperculina codonantha Operculina codonantha Convolvulaceae Photo: CC BY, Pier Luiggi MaquilónJasminum elongatum Jasminum elongatum Common Malayan jasmine Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioBuchanania arborescens Buchanania arborescens Sparrow’s Mango Photo: CC BY, Roland Muench

Other Asparagus 43 in the reference

Asparagus acutifolius Asparagus acutifolius Wild Asparagus Photo: CC BY-SA, Pere BarnolaAsparagus aethiopicus Asparagus aethiopicus Sprenger's asparagus fern Photo: CC BY, libby hepburnAsparagus africanus Asparagus africanus African asparagus Photo: CC BY-SA, Greg TasneyAsparagus albus Asparagus albus Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeAsparagus angusticladus Asparagus angusticladus Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Nic Knott-CraigAsparagus aphyllus Asparagus aphyllus Mediterranean Asparagus Photo: CC BY, Ole N.Asparagus arborescens Asparagus arborescens Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY, Juan RodríguezAsparagus asparagoides Asparagus asparagoides African asparagus fern Photo: CC BY, Thomas MesaglioAsparagus brachyphyllus Asparagus brachyphyllus Short-leaf asparagus Photo: CC BY, Urgamal MagsarAsparagus capensis Asparagus capensis Cape Asparagus Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloAsparagus cochinchinensis Asparagus cochinchinensis Chinese asparagus Photo: CC BY, Jaw-Jian LaAsparagus declinatus Asparagus declinatus Bridal-creeper Photo: CC0, author not stated all 44 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Asparagopsis abyssinica; Asparagopsis acerosa; Asparagopsis brownei; Asparagopsis decaisnei; Asparagopsis floribunda and 26 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asparagaceae
Described by
Willd.
Native to
Burkina, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau +46
Wild records
1262 in range · 1109 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 11 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -12.50_135.000, lapse-corrected -32 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 90 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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