Asparagus is ancestrally hermaphroditic and began diversifying in southern Africa approximately 5 million years ago (Ma). Dioecy (i.e., separate male and female plants) evolved later and independently in two different clades of Asparagus, and both were associated with long-distance dispersals out-of-southern-Africa. Image by Philip C. Bentz. For more information, see Bentz et al. “Bursts of rapid diversification, dispersals out of southern Africa, and two origins of dioecy punctuate the evolution of Asparagus” https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evae200