HUNTING THE WILD ASPARAGUS

ROADSIDE WILD ASPARAGUS; BRIGHT GOLDEN YELLOW NOW

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  41 degrees F at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch. Wind NNW, very  gusty.  The sky is cloudy and overcast, with poor visibility.  There is a cold pelting rain that cut short our morning walk.  The humidity is 81%, the barometer steady at 29.74".  A cold and rainy week lies ahead, with high temperatures around 40 and a frost by Friday night.  The banana, the hibiscus and the orchids will come in off the porch by tonight.
   Edible asparagus, Asparagus officianalis, in the Asparagus Family, is a common garden escapee, often founds on roadsides and in ditches. The species name is Latin and translates as "sold in shops."
It has been cultivated for thousands of years and used as food and as a medicinal diuretic.  There is reputed to be a wild species as well but if there is any difference between them or if they are all garden plants I sure wouldn't know.  In any case all are edible and hard to confuse with anything else.
   Florists also use another asparagus species, A. springeri,  in hanging flower basket arrangements for their dark green, fern-like leaves and red berries.   The asparagus flowers of both species are themselves almost insignificant.
   Now is a good time to hunt for wild asparagus plants and mark their location so that the tender young sprouts can be harvested in the spring.  In times past one worried about lead deposits in roadside plants, but that is not that much of a concern anymore today, as most automotive gasoline has been unleaded for years.