Asparagus in pen and ink

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is early.  Since asparagus is pretty much without question the earliest vegetable growing around here (unless rhubarb counts as a vegetable?  It's used more as a fruit, but really there's nothing fruity about the part that's used), I figured it was time for an asparagus study.

Turned out to be more interesting than a person might think, actually.  Like a lot of plants, asparagus has a very distinct spiral growth pattern.  It's kind of fun to trace the spiral paths of the... um... scales?  Leaflets?  Hey, I'm a zoologist.  I'm not exactly up on my asparagus terminology.  Anyway, the whole thing twists as it grows, which appeals to my pattern-freak side quite nicely.

My father's asparagus patch is an interesting jungle of last year's leftover stems, since he rarely uses them.  It must make it a challenge for the new growth to find space to force its way up, but it obviously still manages.

In case anyone wonders, my model was very tasty...