ACAN THUS SPINO'SUS. 
PRICKLY-LEAVED ACANTHUS. 
Class. Order. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order. 
ACANTHACE*. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
S. Europe. 
3 feet. 
July, Sept. 
Perennial. 
in 1629. 
No. 508. 
This generic name is derived from the Greek, 
akantha, a spine ; a name sufficiently applicable to 
the plant under consideration. Its specific name 
has also the same reference. 
All the species of Acanthus are plants of tolerably 
strong growth, with roots that strike deeply into the 
soil. Some of them are very tenacious of life; 
springing from portions of the root, which happen 
to be broken from the main plant. In this way it 
may be readily propagated, a circumstance that 
would naturally lead us to expect its more general 
distribution in gardens and ornamental grounds. 
The tradition connected with the Acanthus, re- 
garding its having given the idea of the capital of 
the Corinthian column, should not be forgotten. 
Whether this be correct or otherwise, it is unneces- 
sary to enquire; certain it is, that architecture owes 
much of its beauty — much of its perfection to flow- 
ers, foliage, and trees. Nature in the garden, in the 
park, and the wide expanse of country scenery, 
affords one of the best assistant schools of pure taste; 
not only to the architect in his outlines, and in his 
enrichments, but to artists connected with almost 
