Esparto

Common name of Asparagus lowei, a plant of the Liliaceae-Asparagoideae widely cultivated in the gardens and quintas of Madeira, which also grows wild at Porto Moniz (‘Moniz’s harbour’) and between São Jorge and Santana. It has woody, sarmentose or twining stems, fasciculate, bristle-like cladodes and white flowers, with jointed peduncles shorter than the cladodes. The fine-leaved esparto, much grown in gardens, is Asparagus plumosus, and near Gorgulho (‘weevil’) H. scoparius has been found, a pretty plant now almost extinct on the island.