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Black Mondo

Ophiopogon planiscapus

Also called Black Mondo Grass, Mondo Grass

Black Mondo
Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0

Black Mondo is a small evergreen grass-like perennial from Japan, grown mainly for its dark near-black foliage as ground cover or edging. It is easy to grow in part shade with moist, well-drained soil.

Family
Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Part shade, Shade
Water
Keep soil evenly moist during growth; allow the top layer to dry slightly between waterings.
Soil
Moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil.
Temperature
Hardy to about -15 °C; best kept above freezing in pots and protected from hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
C. & S. Japan
Climate
temperate

About

Ophiopogon planiscapus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. It is a small evergreen perennial growing to 20 cm (8 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in)wide. It grows from short rhizomes, and bears tufts of grasslike leaves, from which purple or white flowers emerge in racemes held on short stems above the leaves. It is native to Japan, where it grows on open and forested slopes.

How to grow it

The plants spread by underground stolons with thick fleshy roots making fair sized colonies which can be separated by division in the spring.

It also produces fruits with berries.

Other Ophiopogon plants

Ophiopogon chingii · Dwarf lilyturf · Lily Turfs

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ophiopogon planiscapus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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