This Week's Mystery Plant

There might be a monster in your back yard: King Kong of the garden. Be careful if you monkey around with it.

In North America, there is a special group of about 12 different species of plants, all related to lilies (and placed in the lily family, or Liliaceae), which are very, very popular in garden borders and as ground covers. These species are contained, basically, within the two genera Ophiopogon and Liriope, which come from eastern Asia. (By the way, Liriope is often spoken of as "LEERY-ope", but should probably be pronounced "leer-RYE-opee". But pronounce it however you want.) The different species are not easy to tell apart, and taxonomists must use technical features of the flowers to distinguish them. Some researchers just refer to them, informally, as "Liriopogons".

Now, species of Liriope are aggressively spreading plants, with arching leaves, and with erect flower stalks that emerge well above the foliage. Species of Liriope are the plants usually referred to as "monkey grass", or sometimes "lily turf", and southern gardeners have either of two reactions to it: hate or love. These plants can be hateful because of their tendency to spread and take over your garden, swallowing up everything that gets in the way. Frequently, gardeners will complain that they never planted the stuff, and don't know how it got where it is. Or you might hear a sad tale of planting "just a little bit" of monkey grass during a frenzy of gardening, only to have it develop into an uncontrollable patch. On the other hand, if properly behaved, it makes an excellent border and can provide erosion control, and it offers good color from the white or purple flowers held high on stalks above the leaves. Shiny black berries follow the flowers.

This week's Mystery Plant, though, is a species of Ophiopogon. It's a little thing, forming a tight clump of slick, wiry foliage, shorter than that in Liriope. It is capable of spreading, though, but can form a nice ground cover, if that's what you want, and in shady places. Its flower stalks are very short, never as tall as the leaves, and therefore hardly ever noticed. Its berries are usually hidden away under the plant, which is too bad, as they are a beautiful shade of turquoise blue. You'll go ape over them. (Photo by John Nelson.)

Photo by John Nelson