Asparagus capensis green fruit

This green, globose fruit of Asparagus capensis still retains its style on top. The papery beige tepals also surround the fruit base for the moment. A faint line down the dull green surface indicates fruit body segmentation.

The cylindrical to club-shaped cladodes or false leaves, blue-green to grey-green in colour, have tiny protrusions at their tips, as well as faint surface hairiness.

The large, branch-tip spine in picture appears outsized and out of place; a stationary lance that may be effective, depending on the direction of the attack, like an artillery piece too heavy to move. Such a spine may become 3 cm long (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2007).