the.com/asparagus spear

means A single stalk of the asparagus plant, cut and eaten as a vegetable — the 'spear' being the tapered, pointed stem with its tightly budded tip.

from 'Asparagus' comes via Latin from Greek 'asparagos,' probably tied to a root meaning 'to swell' or 'sprout' — fitting, since the plant was prized for shooting up fast from the ground. English speakers once mangled the word into 'sparrow-grass,' a folk etymology that stuck around in common speech for centuries even after educated usage restored the Greek-Latin form. 'Spear' is the plainer part: the Old English 'spere,' the pointed weapon, borrowed because a fresh asparagus stalk — narrow, tapering, tipped with a bud — looks like a tiny green lance.