hi everyone! just bought this yesterday from china town toronto. also, today i just noticed some "leaves" of it turn brown; i'm getting really worried!! how do i take care of this? when i put my finger in the soil, it's somewhat moist (not completely dry). and should i pour water on top of the plant, or in the soil? thank you guys SO MUCH! =D
Hmm. I don't think it's fair to imply that Junglekeeper mistook it for a fern. Junglekeeper gave the common name, along with the botanical name, and there is tons of information on the internet about it under the name "Asparagus fern". That's just a fact of life for this plant. The information that umairnadeem is seeking is possibly even more available via a search for that name.
wcutler: Michael F has a radical hard-line position on the subject of common names which is shared by basically nobody else. It serves mostly to confuse new people, start arguments, and assure Michael F that he is smarter than the rest of us.
It's shared by practically everyone in Britain & Europe, where standardised scientifically accurate vernacular names are the norm, and have been for over 150 years (e.g. for Britain, here). Why people in the USA take such perverse delight in using inaccurate and misleading names is completely baffling to most people here - it's the most obvious 'culture shock' difference to be found between Britain and the USA. Seems to be at least partly related to creationism/anti-evolution sentiment and the political anti-educational ideology espoused by e.g. the tea-party movement.
It's not "delight." I just accept that people, especially non-experts, will call things what they call them, and that if I want scientific accuracy, I should use scientific names. standardised scientifically accurate vernacular names are the norm Commercial sites in Britain seem perfectly happy to call Spathiphyllum "peace lily." It's not a lily. Ditto for "Norfolk Island pine" (not a pine), "ponytail palm" (not a palm), "sago palm" (also not a palm), "corn plant" (not corn according to either the US or UK understanding of "corn"), "cowboy cactus" (not a cactus). And it's not only that one site: amazon.co.uk, homebase.co.uk, bunches.co.uk, spaldingbulb.co.uk. And even if you were correct, and everybody in Europe uses botanical names with absolute consistency, the question was being asked and answered by Canadians, so I'm not sure how European standards are relevant. Clearly, some Canadians do call Asparagus setaceus "asparagus fern."
You certainly seem to be taking great delight in humiliating and insulting myself and others who share my educational values.
OK, my fault, sorry. I was just defending one of my peeps. Now I have to defend the rest of my peeps. Could we try to make our points about the subject without being directly insulting? The subject plant in this case has been completely identified, and no-one is telling umairnadeem what to do about the brown leaves. Michael, if you could phrase your perfectly helpful and insightful statements to say, for instance, "don't be mislead by the inapt common name of 'asparagus fern', as it's not a fern", it would convey the useful message without implying that we're all out to lunch over here. mrsubjunctive, that was out of line, but the list of other inappropriate common names was interesting. Please, only replies now on the plant.
Agree it's Asparagus Fern (though actually not a fern), a popular houseplant widely grown and commonly known as such in North America, the U.K. and Europe. If you google "Asparagus Fern", you'll find a wealth of relevant information from a wide variety of sources.
It should be noted that this common name is shared amongst several other species in the genus Asparagus though I suspect the method of cultivation would be very similar if not the same.
^_^ I'm new here, and I have absolutely no clue what that plant is. :) But its good to see that everyone gets along to dandy!
