Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Kokuryu’ (‘Nigrescens’)

Description

Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Kokuryu’ (‘Nigrescens’)

(Arabicus, Black dragon, Ebony Knight, Mondo Grass). Prized for their short evergreen, near black grassy foliage, this is an excellent plant for ground cover and for creating a lovely foil for winter flowering plants such as snowdrops or cyclamen. Flowers are produced in Autumn in short dense racemes and are white or lilac tinted and may be followed by black berries. Grow in sun providing the soil does not bake or in partial shade. Hardy to -15oC provided drainage is adequate. Apparently useful for stabilising erosion prone soils. Ophiopoghon derives from teh Greek ‘ophis’ = serpent and ‘pogon’ a beard. If anyone can show us a snake with a beard we’ll try to find which bit of this plant to compare it too and quite how it deserves its name.