Big Blue Lilyturf, Creeping Liriope
Miller, James H.; Manning, Steven T.; Enloe, Stephen F. 2010. A management guide for invasive plants in southern forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–131. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 120 p.
Big blue lilyturf [Liriope muscari (Decne.) L.H. Bailey] and creeping liriope [L. spicata (Thunb.) Lour.] are common ornamentals that form dense evergreen ground cover of crowded tufts of grasslike but thicker leaves, 6 to 18 inches (15 to 45 cm) high that increase with plant age. Stalked spikelike racemes of small lavender-to-lilac-to-white flowers jut upward in early summer to yield stalks of small green-to-black berrylike fruit in summer through winter. Both aggressively spread by radiating underground stems (rhizomes) that produce white plant initiates at nodes that remain interconnected for a time, and by seeds. Roots produce scattered small fleshy peanut-shaped corms that can sprout as well. Grow in full sun to shade and a range of soils, while spread is most rapid on moist highly organic soils. Many cultivars are sold and widely planted as ornamental ground cover and can escape to nearby forests by seeds.
Management strategies
- Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of plants, underground corms, and fruit in a dumpster or burn.
- Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
- Pull, cut, and treat when fruit are not present.
- Frequent repeated mowing can assist control.
Recommended control procedures
- Thoroughly wet leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant (June to October with multiple applications to regrowth): a glyphosate herbicide as a 2-percent solution (8 ounces per 3-gallon mix), mix) or, when safety to surrounding plants is not a concern, Arsenal AC* as a 0.5 percent solution (2 ounces per 3-gallon mix), Arsenal PowerLine* as a 1-percent solution (4 ounces per 3-gallon mix), or Journey* as a 3-percent solution (12 ounces per 3-gallon mix) applied to actively growing shoots, or Escort at 1 to 2 ounces per acre ( 0.2 to 0.4 ounces per 3-gallon mix).
* Nontarget plants may be killed or injured by root uptake.
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