Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Acanthus

For works with similar titles, see Acanthus.

​Acanthus, a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Acanthaceæ. The species are natives of the southern parts of Europe. The most common species is the Acanthus mollis or Brankursine. It has large, deeply-cut, hairy, shining leaves, which are supposed to have suggested the decoration of the Corinthian column. Another species, Acanthus spinosus, is so called from its spiny leaves.

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.