Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nanus'

dwarf mondo grass

This plant has one of my favorite common names: mondo grass. Besides a super-awesome namesake, mondo grass has a tuber that is known as the cardinal herb for yin deficiency in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The first documented record of this plant’s use in TCM is found in an herbal written about 300AD. It is supposedly an effective treatment when someone is feeling anxious, restless or irritable (all of which fall under the category of having “too much heat in the heart”), as it acts with a cooling sedative effect.

The primary medicinal use of mondo grass’s tuber is the treatment of respiratory conditions, as ingestion of the tuber helps the body to produce more mucous. As a bonus, the tubers have antibacterial compounds that can further aid in recovery. These effects are also helpful for treating gastrointestinal ailments. The tuber may either be used raw or dried and saved for later use.

So how is it that medicinal knowledge is “traditionally” accumulated, verified, and practiced? Systems of traditional medicine vary greatly in their underlying theories because of differences in culture and worldview, but pretty much all rely heavily on plants and develop over hundreds of years after extensive trial and error. In most cultures, certain individuals train to be medicinal practitioners (e.g. “shamans”), who have learned from past practitioners, either by word or manuscript, regarding the many oft-complex treatments for conditions, which they then further test and develop.

Practitioners of traditional medicine would gain a reputation based on their effectiveness in treating conditions, which depends greatly upon their knowledge of which plants to use for which conditions, how much of each plant to use, and if a plant can be used safely in combination with another plant to result in an even more effective treatment. As with most herbal medicines, treatments are prescribed with caution, as there are many active compounds in plant parts. It’s hard enough to control side effects of one powerful compound; imagine using a plant with several. On another level, using multiple herbal medicines at once increases the potential for synergistic benefits, but this also increases risk of compounds interacting in dangerous ways.

Mondo grass is pretty maintenance free. It prefers shade to part sun and doesn’t require supplemental fertilization to thrive if it is in fertile soil. This particular dwarf variety is very slow growing.