Asparagus fern

I was in Sainsbury’s today.

I saw this plant, an asparagus fern, which isn’t a fern but is in the same family as asparagus (the vegetable), and simultaneously thought that it was pretty and that it looked just like snap_in_my_day’s blip of Sprenger’s asparagus. Despite everything that snap_in_my_day said about it and despite the warnings on the label, I bought it.

I’ve now looked up the asparagus fern on Wikipedia; Asparagus aethiopicus is not to be confused with A. densiflorus, which they have been in the past, as you can tell from the common names: common names for the former are asparagus fern, asparagus grass, foxtail fern and Sprenger’s asparagus; common names for the latter are asparagus fern, plume asparagus and foxtail fern.

Despite its name, A. aethiopicus is native to South Africa, and has become an invasive species elsewhere in climates that it can tolerate; it won’t tolerate a temperate climate, so it’s an indoors plant in Britain.

The label doesn’t mention that it’s toxic to cats. Luckily, Mr Perkins isn’t interested in the houseplants. He likes to eat the grass at the edge of next door’s drive, then come back in and throw it up all over the kitchen floor.

I need to go to Cambridge.