asparagus (asparagus)

[ L.asparagus, It. sparagio, OF. esperage, > early mod. E. sperage, sparage, sperach. The ML. form sparagus was in E. altered by popular etymology into sparagra and sparrow - gra (sometimes simply gra ), which were until recently in good literary use.] 1. A plant of the genus Asparagus, especially A. officinal is.-2. [ cap.] A large genus of plants of the old world, natural order Liliacea. That which is cultivated in gardens, the common asparagus, or Asparagus officinal is, has a much-branched stem rising from thick and matted perennial root-stocks, and small greenish-yellow flowers. The narrow thread-like so-called leaves are in reality branchlets growing in clusters in the axils of the true but scale-like leaves. The roots have a bitterish mucilaginous taste, and the stalk is in some degree aperient and deobstruent, but not very efficacious. The part eaten is the turion, or young shoot covered with scales in place of leaves. The sprouts contain the crystalline substance called asparagin. - French or Pru ian asparagus, a name in some parts of England for the fleshy spike of IMG:content-1238.png:[blocks in formation] Both species were imported into the United States from Europe. Both the beetles and their larvæ feed upon the asparagus - plant, but the damage is principally done by the larvæ. C. asparagi is blackish beneath, the thorax being reddish above, and the elytra ornamented with yellowish spots of varying extent. C. duodecimpunctata is nearly uniformly reddish, the elytra having twelve small black spots. The larvæ of the two species resemble each other closely; they are nearly cylindrical, tapering somewhat toward the head, shining, and of a dirty olive-green color. Asparagus-beetle (Crioceris asparagi). a, b, d, and e, beetle, eggs, and larvæ, natural size; cands, eggs and larva, enlarged.