Liriope muscari (Decne.) L.H. Bailey
Lily turf, big blue lily turf, border grass, monkey grass
Lily turf is native to China, Japan, and Korea. Grown as a garden plant in North America, it naturalizes easily in the American southeast, and is considered invasive in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. There are many cultivars.
Plants: Plants are evergreen, and 12–18″ (30–45 cm) in size.
Leaves: Leaves are straplike, arching, dark green, smooth-edged, and 1–1½′ ⨉ ½″ (30–45 ⨉ 1.3 cm).
Flowers: White to lilac-colored, attractive flowers are on spikes 6–9″ (15–22 cm) tall. The flowers are reminiscent, in shape and color, of grape hyacinth (Muscari spp.), hence the specific epithet. They appear from August to September.
Fruits: Round, fleshy, black fruits are about ¼″ (8.3 mm) in diameter.
Habitats: Shady forests at elevations of 330–4600′ (100–1402 m).
Online References:
9/1/2013 · Trail Near James River, Midlothian, Virginia · ≈ 8 × 12″ (21 × 31 cm) 
9/1/2013 · Trail Near James River, Midlothian, Virginia · ≈ 7 × 8″ (16 × 20 cm) 
9/1/2013 · Trail Near James River, Midlothian, Virginia · ≈ 6 × 7″ (15 × 18 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Liliopsida | Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family |
| Subclass | Liliidae | Includes lilies, orchids, and many others |
| Order | Asparagales | A diverse group that includes asparagus |
| Family | Asparagaceae | Agaves, asparagus, hyacinths, and others |
| Genus | Liriope | From Greek myth, a nymph having a “face like a daffodil” |
| Species | muscari | Umberto Quattrocchi’s World Dictionary of Plant Names says: “A Turkish name recorded by Clusius in 1583; Latin muscus, ‘moss, musk’;” see link for more information |
Liriope muscari description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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