2 MAY 1941, Page 16

Wild Asparagus It is not generally known, perhaps, that asparagus

is a wild plant in England or that it belongs botanically, like the onion, to the lily family. It is rather surprising, too, that a plant which in culti- vation gets perhaps more coddling and feeding than any other plant should be a native of coastal districts, thriving on what the books call maritime sands. Apparently only common in the West, it is said to be found fairly abundantly near the Lizard in Cornwall, and according to an authority quoted by Florence White, at Kynance Cove in Cornwall there is an island called Asparagus Island, because of its abundance there. Solomon's Seal is a related plant, also an English native, and is said to be a good substitute for asparagus itself.