Asparagus officinalis is a perennial from the genus "Asparagus" of the Asparagaceae family. It is commonly grown as a vegetable, eaten in spring. When people talk about Asparagus as a vegetable, they usually mean this plant. It was once classified in the lily family, like its "Allium" cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and asparagus in the Asparagaceae. "Asparagus officinalis" is native to most of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia, A. officinalis is widely cultivated as a vegetable crop.