Taxonomy of the western European endemic Asparagus prostratus (A. officinalis subsp. prostratus) (Asparagaceae)

Abstract

Asparagus prostratus Dumort., (wild asparagus) and A. officinalis L. (cultivated asparagus), often regarded as subspecies or varieties of a single species, have been confused for historical and nomenclatural reasons. A taxonomic review was carried out, and they were found to be distinct species which differ in morphology (characters retained in cultivation), cytology, distribution and ecology, and they are reproductively isolated. The tetraploid A. prostratus is unlikely to be the taxon from which the diploid A. officinalis evolved. Morphological descriptions are presented, and A. prostratus is lectotypified. A. prostratus is a western European endemic of coasts of Belgium, Britain, the Channel Islands, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and The Netherlands.