asparagus

[In Sw. sparris; Dan. as parges; Dut. aspersie; Ger. aspergie, spargel; Fr. asperge; Sp. esparrago; Port. aspargo; Ital. sparago, aspirago; Ru . spars a; Lat. asparagus, aspharagus; Gr. ἀσπάραγος ( aspara gos ), Attic ἀσφάραγος ( aspharagos ), from σπάρασσω (spara o) = to tear. So called because of the strong prickles with which some of the species are armed. Formerly written sperage or sparage.] A. Ord . Lang.: A culinary plant, the tender shoots of which are eaten. It is the Wild Asparagus ( Asparagus officinal is ), developed by cultivation. "Pardons for murder, for robbery, for arson were sold at White hall scarcely le openly than asparagus at Covent Garden."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng . , ch. xi. B. Bot . A genus of plants belonging to the order Liliaceæ, or Lilyworts, and the tribe Asparagus, of which it is the type. It contains the Common Asparagus ( A. officinal is ), which is a plant with drooping, greenish-white flowers and red berries, growing here and there on the British coasts. As mentioned above, it is the origin of the Garden Asparagus. In the Plural . Asparagi : A name given by the old botanists to the shoots covered with scales, like those of the asparagus, which are sent forth by some plants. The name now given to such a shoot is turio. (Lindley: Introd. to Bot., 3rd ed., 1839, p. 72.) Mineralogy. Asparagus-stone: A mineral, a variety of Apatite, found in Spain. Dana couples it with Moroxite, and places both as a first sub-variety of ordinary Apatite, its only distinctive characteristic being its yellowish green colour.