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[-JKP-]

JKP, 
Perhaps I missed something, but how is it that the seeds are the only useful part of the asparagus? 
What do you posit they were useful for? Some kind of apocalypse seed vault?  I would say that getting food or even poison from the plant would be more useful, but again, maybe I missed something. 
From what I could find online growing asparagus from seeds is the longest and most difficult way.

Sorry, VViews, I expressed my ideas on this in different posts and probably should have put it all together and prefaced that statement with the fact that the seeds were the only part of the ferny plant (the ferny form of asparagus) considered useful in medieval times (they considered the seeds to be medicinal). They cut away the feathery leaves and, as far as I know, didn't use them for anything. They only occasionally mention the roots. Apparently the roots weren't valued as much as the seeds.

The spiky part, which we are familiar with as asparagus spears, comes up first, before the ferny part (the leafy fronds are not attached to the spikes if they are cut early for food), so I wasn't addressing the food or medicinal value of the spikes because the VMS drawing looks like the asparagus fern form (which is the later growth that has branches, flowers, and berries).


You have to choose. You can't harvest spikes and berries from the same shoot. If you cut the spike for food, no berries. If you let the spike bush out into leaves and berries, you can't eat the spike. Both male and female plants have spikes and leaves, but only the female has berries.