PLATE I. 



1. ACANTHUS MOLLIS. 



SMOOTH BEAR'S BREECH. 



THIS genus comprehends several hardy herbaceous plants of the 

 perennial flowering kind, which are in use for the purpose of orna- 

 ment in pleasure-grounds, &c. and also one of the evergreen shrubby 

 sort for the stove. 



It is of the class and order Didynamia Angiospermia, and ranks in 

 the natural order of Personate. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a perianthium, with leaflets 

 in three alternate pairs, unequal, and permanent: the corolla single- 

 petalled and unequal, having a short tube closed with a beard; no 

 upper lip; very large under lip, which is flat, straight, very broad, 

 three-lobed, obtuse, and of the length of the upper lip of the calyx : 

 the stamina have four filaments, subulate, shorter than the corolla, 

 the two upper rather longer, recurved and incurved at the top: the 

 antherae are oblong, compressed, obtuse, the lateral ones parallel, 

 and villous before: the pistillum has a conical germ, a filiform style 

 of the length of the stamina, and two acute lateral stigmas: the 

 pericarpium is a subovate pointed capsule, two-celled and two- 

 valved, with a contrary partition, alternate claws, curved and fas- 

 tened to the partition: the seed is ovate, gibbous and single, but 

 sometimes double. 



The species most commonly cultivated are: 1. A.mollis, Smooth 

 Acanthus; 2. A. spinosus, Prickly Acanthus; 3. A.ilicifolius, Holly- 

 leaved Shrubby Acanthus. 



The first, or Smooth Acanthus, according to Miller, has the stem 

 from two to three feet in height. The leaves are oblong, smooth on 



