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. 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. It has a mat of fleshy cordlike roots with fine branches. 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.