OPHIOPOGON SPICATUS. 
SPIKED SNAKE’S-BEARD. 
Class. Order. 
HEXANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
SMILACE*. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
China. 
9 inches. 
Aug. Sept. 
Perennial. 
in 1820. 
No. 491. 
The generic name now before us is founded on 
the one used in J apan for another species of this ge- 
nus. Its meaning is snake’s beard; hence Ophio- 
pogon, from the Greek ophis, a snake; pogon, a 
beard, but why this idea should have been originally 
adopted, we are wholly uninformed. 
This plant is not commonly met with, although 
well deserving cultivation. On the whole it may, 
perhaps, be considered as better adapted to pot cul- 
ture, than for growth in the open borders. 
In pots, it should be grown in a mixture of loam, 
sand, and a small portion of peat, with a free use of 
drainers. Unless division be required, it is far bet- 
ter to encourage its growth by occasional removals 
into larger-sized pots ; as the stronger the plants be- 
come, the finer they will flower without danger, as 
is the case with some plants, of damping off for want 
of division. They may be plunged with the al- 
pines in summer, and be protected in the cold frame 
during winter. If planted in the open ground, the 
situation should be sheltered, and in very severe wea- 
ther, a little straw or a mat, should be thrown over 
the roots. 
Bot. Reg. 593. 
