Asparagales

Asparagales, the asparagus or orchid order of flowering plants, containing 14 families, 1,122 genera, and more than 36,200 species.

daffodil

crocus

Asparagales contains many garden plants and several types of bulbs and cut flowers that are commercially important. The most notable plants in temperate gardens include the spring-flowering Crocus and hyacinth (Hyacinthus) and thousands of different cultivars of the summer-flowering daylily (Hemerocallis), which has edible buds used in many East Asian recipes. Also important are Amaryllis, Hippeastrum, and Narcissus. Aloe, a tropical African genera with elongate succulent (fleshy) leaves, is a favoured houseplant and is used medicinally. Other plants with edible parts include onion (Allium cepa), garlic (A. sativum), and their relatives the leek (A. porrum) and shallot (A. cepa, variety aggregatum). Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is prized as a vegetable. The flavouring vanilla is an extract of the fruit of the Vanilla orchid (although most vanilla flavouring is now synthetically produced). Saffron is a spice obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus.

blue agave farm

Baja California: agave

Agave includes some of the largest members of Asparagales; the flower stalk of the century plant (A. americana) may reach 6 metres (20 feet) in height. These slow-growing plants flower once and die. Several species of Agave, notably A. sisalana, are cultivated for henequen and sisal fibres derived from their leaves. The bulky asparagus-like inflorescences (flower clusters) of plantation-grown plants in Mexico yield a rich juice that is fermented to produce pulque, mescal (mezcal), and tequila.

Joshua tree

Many yuccas are small plants, but the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) typically attains a height greater than 10 metres (nearly 33 feet) in California. Several other genera of this family are treelike. Yuccas contain saponins, compounds that foam when mixed with water; they are one of the original sources of natural detergents.