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Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Teague's Black' (Fine-leaf Black Mondo) - A slow growing evergreen perennial with very narrow black grass-like leaves that grows grow to 4 to 6 inches tall, spreading slowly to form a dense clump. The individual leaves are 6 inches long and less than 1/8 inch wide. Like the full size Black Mondo Grass, the new growth is very dark green towards the base of the leaves and darkening towards the tips to become the blackest plants that we know of. This plant is shyer to bloom than the full-size form but will occasionally produce short spikes bearing whitish lilac flowers in summer.
Best in part sun or light shade, with regular watering. Hardy at least to USDA Zone 6a (-10°F). A great little plant for a small-scale groundcover or companion plant in containers - very slow growing. Our original plant came to us in 2004 from Dylan Hannon, Conservatory Curator at the Huntington Botanic Gardens, who noted that it was propagated from a clump of a full-size Black Mondo the Huntington had received from San Diego area plantsman Bill Teague in 1980 and accessioned as Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Arabicus' HBG#44303. It is not known if this finer leaf form was a mutation or a seedling from this plant, but it was notably finer leaved and selected out, but never named. We honor the original source by naming it after the late Bill Teague. There was a very similar looking narrow leafed plant introduced into the nursery trade by Bruntwood Nursery in Hamilton, New Zealand that was submitted for Plant Breeders Rights protection in 2004 under the name 'Nigrescens Hosoba Kokuryu', which translates to "narrow leaf Kokuryu". This plant is also cultivated by nurseries in England using this name but while these plants look very similar, they are from different sources and therefore unique.
According to the International Liriope and Ophiopogon Cultivar Register the full size black mondo grass should be called Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Kokuryu' but there is a great deal of disagreement about the correct name for the plant. See our listing of Black Mondo for more information on this at Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'.
The information about Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Teague's Black' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
