This black-foliaged cultivar is the only form of this species that I've seen. The foliage begins as green and then turns almost black. Mondo-grass is a tuberous rooted, often stoloniferous, grass-like perennial of the Lily Family from Japan, closely related to Liriopes. It is a stemless plant with narrow, linear basal leaves in arching, slowly spreading clumps. The white tinged pink, 6-tepaled bell-like flowers about 1/4 inch long in summer are on leafless stems (scapes). They are followed by dark purple, pea-sized glossy berries. It grows best in moist, rich, slightly acid soil. The genus name of "Ophio pogon" comes from Greek meaning "snake beard." The cultivars and the mother species are much better plants than the similar Liriope spicata, the Creeping Liriope or Lilyturf, for gardens because they don't aggressively take over beds and get under the other plants and become such a horrible maintenance problem.

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