mondo grass

noun

mon·​do grass ˈmän-(ˌ)dō- 

variants or less commonly mondograss

plural mondo grasses also mondograsses

: a low-growing Asian evergreen plant (Ophiopogon japonica) of the asparagus family that has clusters of light or dark green grasslike leaves and small white or pale purple flowers

Note: Mondo grass is used as an ornamental plant or ground cover.

Despite having grass in its name, mondo grass is not a true grass. … Unlike our traditional turf grasses, mondo grass is not only shade-tolerant but also truly prefers shade, and likes moist, well-drained soil.

—Matthew Stevens

Gardeners needing a care-free ground cover should consider mondo grass as turf replacement in shady locations. … Mondo grass produces short spikes of lavender or white blooms usually hidden among the foliage May through July.

—Tom MacCubbin

called also dwarf lilyturf, monkey grass

compare black mondo grass

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin Mondo, earlier genus name, borrowed from Japanese mondō, from mon "gate" + -dō, form in combination of tō "winter"

Note: The genus name Mondo was introduced by the French botanist Michel Adanson in Famille des Plantes, 1. partie (Paris, 1763), p. 496. The taxon is based on the description of the plant in Engelbert Kaempfer's Amoenitatum exoticarum politico-physico-medicarum fasciculi V (Lemgo, 1712), pp. 823-24. Kaempfer, a German naturalist and explorer who visited Japan in 1690-92, recorded the name as "Mondo & Biakf Mondo," i.e., bakumondō. The Japanese plant name is ultimately a borrowing from the Middle Chinese equivalent of modern Beijing Chinese màiméndōng ("wheat" – "gate" – "winter"), the name for the plant used medicinally.

First Known Use

1951, in the meaning defined above