Acanthus

Plant Characteristics
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Scientific Names
Acanthaceae >	Acanthus >

If this plant info box on watering; zones; height; etc. is mostly empty you can click on the edit tab and fill in the blanks!

Acanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Roman World, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean Basin and Asia. Common names include Acanthus and Bear's breeches. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ακανθος (acanthos), meaning "thorny."^[1]

The genus comprises herbaceous perennial plants, rarely subshrubs, with spiny leaves and flower spikes bearing white or purplish flowers. Size varies from 0.4 to 2 m in height.

Read about Acanthus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Acanthus (akanthos, thorn). Acanthaceae. Bear's Breech. A genus of twenty species of temperate Old World, mostly hardy herbaceous perennials of vigorous growth and broad pinnatifid foliage, suitable for backgrounds of borders and subtropical effects. Height 3-4 ft.: spikes 1-1 1/2 ft. long; fls. dull white to rose or purplish, sessile, spicate, densely clustered; corolla 1-lipped, the lip 3-lobed; anthers 1-celled, ciliate. Mostly S. Eu. They need a rich, light, well-drained soil and much sunshine. Excessive moisture is fatal, especially in winter and spring. Fall-planted stock should always be protected for the winter by long litter or evergreen boughs, even where established plants are hardy. Must be deeply mulched north in winter. Propagation is by division in spring or early autumn, and by seeds. It is supposed that acanthus leaves afforded the suggestion for the foliage decoration on the capital of the Corinthian and other columns. Fig. 85 shows the conventionalized decoration, and Fig. 86 the form of leaf of A. spinosus. The leaves of A. mollis were probably also involved in variations of decoration.^CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Do you have cultivation info on this plant? Edit this section!

Propagation

Do you have propagation info on this plant? Edit this section!

Pests and diseases

Do you have pest and disease info on this plant? Edit this section!

Species

Selected species^wp:

Acanthus balcanicus Heywood & I.Richardson (Syn. Acanthus hungaricus (Borbás) Baenitz, Acanthus longifolius Host)
Acanthus dioscoridis Willd.
Acanthus ebracteatus Vahl
Acanthus eminens C.B.Clarke
Acanthus hirsutus Boiss.
Acanthus ilicifolius L.
Acanthus mollis L.
Acanthus montanus T.Anders.
Acanthus polystachyus Delile
Acanthus spinosus L.
Acanthus syriacus Boiss.^[2]

Gallery

If you have a photo of this plant, please upload it! Plus, there may be other photos available for you to add.

Acanthus montanus
photo 2
photo 3

References

Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

w:Acanthus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
Acanthus QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)

This article is a stub. You can help Gardenology.org by expanding it.

↑ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: A-C. CRC Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780849326752. http://books.google.com/books?id=esMPU5DHEGgC&.
↑ "Species Records of Acanthus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved on 2010-06-19.

[1] Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: A-C. CRC Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780849326752. http://books.google.com/books?id=esMPU5DHEGgC&.

[GRINSpecies-2] "Species Records of Acanthus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved on 2010-06-19.

[1]

[2]