Nature Bulletin No. 716   May 4, 1963
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Seymour Simon, President
Robert s Mann, Conservation Editor

****:ASPARAGUS

This writer happens to be an inveterate hunter of wild asparagus. Not 
only because it is more tender and has a better flavor than any 
cultivated asparagus for sale in stores and roadside stands; nor the 
satisfaction from cleverly getting something for nothing; but mostly 
because of the extra dividends -- intangible benefits -- that accrue 
during the searches for delectable stalks of this unique plant.

"In my opinion", says he, "that is one of the most rewarding of all 
outdoor pastimes. We members of the Sparrowgrass Clan harvest more 
to take home and see more and learn more of the plant and animal 
worlds about us than the Frosty-toed Tribe of ice fishermen, the bank 
fishermen, the dandelion diggers, or the berry pickers. We're not as 
sedentary as the fishermen nor as active as the hikers. Like the 
mushroom hunters, sharp-eyed, we saunter. "

Wild asparagus, as a plant, is no different from the common garden 
vegetable which has been under cultivation for over 2000 years. In 
Britain, Europe, Africa and Asia -- especially in coastal areas, salt 
marshes, and on the steppes of Russia -- it grows wild. In this country 
it is commonly a "weed" in old fields and along roadsides where it has 
escaped from cultivation by means of birds that eat the small red 
berries on mature plants and excrete the undigested seeds. That is why 
the wild plants are so abundant and prolific in a section of the 
DesPlaines valley across the river from where there used to be a large 
asparagus farm.

Asparagus is a perennial (the same plant comes up and grows year 
after years in the Lily Family and closely related to the lily-of-the-
valley. It has a mat of fleshy cordlike roots with fine branches. In 
spring the rootstock sends up thick fleshy shoots or "spears" bearing, 
especially at the tips, scales that are really degenerate leaves. If cut a 
day or so after they appear -- before they become too tall and fibrous -- 
and eaten within a few hours, the spears are tender and delicious. They 
begin to deteriorate as soon as gathered; they toughen rapidly and, 
except the tips, become "stringy" within 24 hours unless refrigerated. 
That is why we hunt for wild asparagus: it can be cooked and eaten 
right away.

Asparagus is dioecious: the staminate (male) and pistillate (female) 
flowers are borne on separate plants. The small drooping greenish-
yellow flowers are followed, on the pistillate plants, by small red 
berries. Male plants produce more spears but female plants produce 
larger ones. When mature and from 3 to 10 feet tall, an asparagus 
plant has many slender branches with fernlike branchlets that function 
instead of leaves. Its only true leaves are minute scales.

Afield of asparagus may yield over two tons of spears per acre and, 
with good care, should produce for 20 years. If green shoots are to be 
harvested for marketing, the field is kept nearly flat with just enough 
soil over the crowns to protect them from cultivating tools. If white or 
blanched shoots are desired, for salads or canning, the soil is ridged up 
over the rows each spring so that a shoot becomes about 10 inches in 
length before it emerges. They are harvested daily during the cutting 
season which usually lasts 8 or 10 weeks.

During 14 springs, while searching for wild asparagus in that Des 
Plaines valley area, this "sparrowgrass hunter" made many instructive 
observations of plants and animals and had some memorable 
experiences. Included were the finding of a marsh hawk's nest and the 
domelike nest of an oven bird amidst the prairie vegetation; watching 
three young groundhogs nibble clover while their mother stood upright 
on guard near the den; watching a woodcock probing mud for worms, 
a goldfinch plucking tufted seeds from a dandelion, and a spittlebug 
building a blob of froth on a weed.  Those were a few of the extra 
dividends.