54 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



ACANTHACEAE. 



With Annotated List of the Species known to have been 

 in Cultivation.* 



By Colonel R. H. Beddome, F.L.S. 



This order is almost entirely tropical ; it consists of herbs and shrubs, 

 no trees ; our stoves are indebted to it for many beautiful plants ; it is a 

 great favourite with all botanists, as it is full of interesting genera and 

 species ; the flowers are generally showy ; horticulturists pay much 

 attention to many of the genera, especially Aphelandra, Daedalacantlius, 

 Eranthemum, Jacobinia, Crossandra, and Thunbergia. For the amateur 

 it is one of the three best orders (Rubiaceae and Gesneraceae being the 

 other two). The chief reason for this is that every plant of this order 

 grows most readily and quickly from cuttings ; any plant therefore of 

 the order, having been acquired, should never be lost or require repurchase ; 

 cuttings of almost every species should be inserted in the propagating 

 frame between January and May, they root in a few days, and being 

 well pinched in when in a young state, there are always nice young 

 sturdy plants coming on to replace the old ones, many of which in 

 a year or so become leggy and unsightly, only fit to be thrown away. 



I have paid much attention to the order in the tropical field for many 

 years, and have been cultivating the genera and species, as far as I have 

 been able to procure them, since 1882, so I trust my notes may be of 

 some service to horticulturists. 



Acanthopsis 



carduifolia, Clarke, " Fl. Capensis," vol. v. part i. p. 33. — Cape of 

 Good Hope. Villous. Leaves 3 inches by j inch, pinnatifid, 

 doubly spinous-toothed ; spike 2-3 inches by ^ inch ; bract 

 £ inch long, obovate, truncate, crowned by 5 narrow lanceolate 

 spines ; bracteoles \ inch long, linear ; calyx hairy ; corolla § inch 

 long. Syn. Blepharis carduifolius, Acanthus carduifolius. 

 Acanthus. — Best known as almost the only genus in the order yielding 

 hardy plants ; it however contains a good many tropical species 

 (e.g., ilicifolius and volubilis, plants not worth introducing, found 

 in most tropical backwaters near the sea). I have not grown this 

 genus (beyond mollis) or given much study to it. A list of the 

 species introduced is, however, given. 

 candelabrum. — Garden form of mollis. 



Caroli-Alexandri. " Gartenflora," 1886, p. 62G (fig. 73-75).— 

 Greece. Leaves few, radical, in a lax rosette, lanceolate-pinnatifid, 

 spine- toothed, 16 inches long, 3-4 inches broad ; flowers white, 

 often diffused with rose, in a dense spike. Quite hardy. 



* The reference enclosed in brackets is to the best figure of the species. 



