and one-half inch
long. A native of South Africa, where it climbs over bushes and branches
in moist situations. There are several named varieties of this, most of
which have originated in gardens. The most distinct are _A. tenuissimus_
and _A. plumosus nanus_, the fern-like appearance of which is seen in
Fig. 2.

[Illustration: FIG. 3--ASPARAGUS SPRENGERI]

_A. Sprengeri._--This is one of the best and most attractive house
plants of recent introduction. It is of graceful form and habit when
grown as a pot plant, but it is equally well suited for planting in
hanging baskets. Its fronds are frequently four feet long, of a rich
shade of green, and very useful for cutting, retaining their freshness
for weeks after being cut. As a house plant it has exceeded
expectations, as it stands dry atmosphere better than the older kinds of
ornamental asparagus, and is not particular as to any special position.
It delights in a well-enriched soil, rather light in composition, with
plenty of drainage, and grows very rapidly. It is decidedly pretty when
in bloom, its little flowers being pure white on short racemes, and the
anthers are of a bright orange color. Fig. 3 gives a good idea of its
graceful habit.

_A. falcatus._--One of the most striking twining plants for a large,
temperate house. At the Kew Gardens, in London, England, is an enormous
specimen of this species which is trained against the northern
staircase, where it has formed a perfect thicket two yards through and
twenty-five feet high, of long, rope-like, intertwining, spinous,
fawn-colored stems, some of them fully fifty feet long, and clothed with
wiry, woody branches, bearing whorls of leaves from two to three inches
long and nearly one-fourth of an inch wide, falcate and bright green.
The young stems are thick and succulent and gray-green, mottled with
brown. For large conservatories, and particularly in moist, shady
corners, where ordinary climbers will not thrive, this is an ideal
plant. It is a native of the tropics of Asia and Africa, as well as the
Cape.

[Illustration: FIG. 4--ASPARAGUS LARICINUS]

_A. laricinus_ (Fig. 4).--This handsome species has been in the Kew
collection at least twenty years. It is grown in the succulent house,
where, from a vigorous root system, it sends up annual stout succulent
shoots, which grow to a length of about twelve feet, and when fully
developed are decidedly ornamental. The stems are perennial, terete,
dark brown, wood