Asterisk sign in python

[sarmin]

Hi Pythoners...

It seems to me the Asterisk (*) sign in python means many things...

if a python code line looks like this:
def__init__(self, func, *param):
  bla bla bla...

and then u have something like this:
func(*param)

and then something like this:
def Wrapper(select, func, param):
   bla bla bla...

I took this section of code from the 'Python Cookbook' textbook page 
223 about 'Running Functions in the future'...

I just cant figure out what is the asterisk (*) sign for and what is 
the different between *param and param??

Many thanks Pythoners...

Regards
sarmin