Acanthus news
Wow! This January I saw, for the first time, Acanthus growing in the
wild in Kenya, east Africa. Most of the Acanthus we have in our national
collection are native to Europe but a few years ago, I read an article
by Roy Lancaster (The RHS Garden magazine, Volume 126, part 1, January
2001), about a shrubby Ethiopian Acanthus with holly like leaves and
vivid scarlet flowers. The hunt was on!
Acanthus sennii
With the help of conservationist and plantaholic
Mark Nicholson, I travelled to Nairobi and then “up country”,
to his home where he is developing the grounds of a Methodist College
into a natural area to accommodate native plants and birds.
Growing along the roadside was Acanthus eminens.
In Mark’s garden was Acanthus pubescens. I collected seed from
both these plants and hopefully some of them will germinate.
Last year in India, we saw several plants belonging
to the Acanthacaea (it’s surprising how many there are once you start looking!) and,
growing in the mangrove swamps, we saw Acanthus illicifolius but this
wasn’t in flower. All these Acanthus have holly like leaves, only
pricklier, and are shrubby in growth.
Whilst researching Acanthus in the Lindley library,
I came across a book on gardening in India which described Acanthus
montanus Frielings Sensation. After many hours on the internet, I found
that this is used as a “conservatory” container plant in the USA. “A
centerpiece in many international conservatories and display gardens
since its introduction in the early 1980s, this brilliantly variegated
shrub has recently gained a new group of admirers as a centerpiece in
mixed urns and container gardens.”
Having found a nursery which can supply it, we hope to
propagate this gem of a plant in the next year or two. It is a variegated
selection of Acanthus, spotted by Ken Frieling, which has yellow marbled
deeply cut leaf margins turning into rich patches of creamy ivory with
age. Handsome foliage topped by spires of white bracts stained raspberry
pink.
Acanthus montanus Frielings Sensation
Back to European Acanthus, I have obtained Acanthus
spinosus Ferguson’s
form (below) which I consider to be the best flowering spinosus selectio.
It is a compact grower and the flower stems are compact and very showy.
Another new acquisition is Acanthus mollis Sjaak. There is also a new
variegated Acanthus mollis Pride of Morvan which has cream and yellow
variegated deep glossy evergreen foliage which ages cream variegated.
Spikes of pale purple and white hooded flowers, up to 1m. We have discovered
a variegated plant amongst our own batch of Acanthus mollis but so
far, propagation methods are unknown as root cuttings produce green
leaved plants!
Acanthus in our collection and for sale
(see catalogue for prices and pictures)
Acanthus Candelabra
Acanthus caroli-alexandri
Introduced in 1886, this has a loose rosette of spiny
lanceolate leaves up to 40cm long and 10cm across. Flowers in a dense
spike, white often suffused rose. It has both a spread and a height of
140cm.
Acanthus dioscorides
Acanthus dioscoridis smooth leaved
Acanthus dioscoridis perringii
My personal favourite, this is a slow growing variety
with incised grey/green foliage and pink flowers in June and July.
Unusually, the flowers are scented! It will only reach about 30 cm
in height, and not much wider. It is a native to Southern Turkey and
hardy to minus 15°c, and
typically lives on dry stony hillsides, and so is ideal in smaller
gardens, and will happily cope in our drier summers.
Acanthus hirsutus JCA 109.700
Acanthus hirsutus roseus
Acanthus hirsutus syriacus (syn .syriacus)
This is a very unusual character, having yellow flowers, with green
bracts. It tends to have a spreading habit, but will only get about 30cm
wide, and not very much taller.
Acanthus hirsutus syriacus JCA 106.500
Acanthus hungaricus AL+JS 90097YU
Acanthus hungaricus (syn balcanicus syn longifolius)
This is a deciduous species which can reach 90cm wide, and 90cm tall.
It has deeply lobed light-green foliage, and tall spikes of soft
lilac flowers freely produced in late summer. Fragrant, it smells of
roses.
Acanthus mollis
Introduced into English gardens in 1548.
Acanthus mollis free flowering
Free-flowering does “exactly what it says on the tin”.
With large leaves, it reaches about 100cm tall, and around 100cm wide.
Acanthus mollis Hollard's Gold
Spring foliage is golden green, often darkening later in the season.
Slow growing when young but a magnificent foliage plant once established.
Flowers are typical Acanthus purple and white.
Acanthus mollis Latifolius group
This has the largest leaves of all the Acanthus we have. Both the leaf
stalk and the leaf itself are enormous!
Acanthus mollis (Latifolius group) Rue Ledan (syn. mollis Albus syn
mollis Jefalbus, syn Jardin en Face)
Rue Leden seems to have multiple personalities but all the synonyms
refer to the same plant! Unlike most of the other Acanthus, it has white
flowers with a white hood. It is evergreen, and the flowers are scented.
Acanthus mollis Sjaak
Acanthus sennii
Native to Ethiopia, we have (so far) found sennii to be hardy in this
country. It has very prickly holly-like leaves, as well as having
scarlet flowers. A real head turner!
Acanthus spinosus AGM
Introduced into English gardens in 1629, this species has deeply cut
leaves which are more or less deciduous and tend to form a dense
carpet. It covers an area of about 90cm, and can get to 120cm tall. It
has the trademark mauve and white flowers.
Acanthus spinosus Lady Moore
This is an unusual variety with dark green leaves, heavily laced white
in spring although not as showy later in the summer when the leaves
become greener. Flowers dusky purple and white, reaches about 60cm
in width, and 100cm or so tall.
Acanthus spinosus Royal Haughty
Deeply cut, but not spiny leaves. Reaches about 120cm, with a spread
of 100cm. Although named Royal Haughty, I have been reliably infomed
that it was NOT name after the RHS!
Acanthus spinosus spinosissimus group
Introduced into English gardens in 1629. Rather shy to flower, but
beware of the extremely prickly foliage that makes holly look innocuous!
A very handsome foliage plant. Slow growing.
Acanthus Summer Beauty (syn.mollis Summerdance)
This plant has very long spikes of widely spaced purple and white flowers
in late summer, around 100cm tall and wide. Seed pods look like dates.
General information
Acanthus, when looked up in the dictionary, has a number of meanings.
- Acanthus is a community on Cedar Lake, in north-eastern
Ontario.
- Acanthus describes ornamentation in the capitols of the
Corinthian and Composite orders which depicts or resembles foliage of
the Acanthus plant. Acanthus motifs appear extensively in Medieval, Renaissance
artwork, particularly in sculpture and wood carving and friezes.
It is said that Callimachos lost his daughter, and set a basket of flowers
on her grave, with a tile to keep the wind from blowing it away.
The next time he went to visit the grave an acanthus had sprung up around
the basket, which so struck the fancy of the architect that he introduced
the design in his buildings.
- Acanthus is the name of an ancient Greek City.
- Acantha was a nymph in greek mythology, associated with
the Acanthus plant. He had a sister, Acanthis.
- Acanthus is both a common name and a genus of flowering
plant in the family Acanthaceae. Acanthus, genus name, from Greek
Akanthos, thorn plant, from acanthi, thorn.
It is the last meaning that describes our national collection.
Acanthus has the common name “Bear’s Breeches”. A
Tudor writer, Turner, called it “Branke Ursine” but why this
common name is used is anyone’s guess. It is, however, a very well
known and used common name.
Acanthus are native to southern Europe, especially Turkey and there
are many tropical Acanthus found in the mangrove swamps of Asia and the
tropical forests of Africa.
Acanthus have been lurking in English gardens for sometime longer than
you may expect! The complete herbal and English physician enlarged cites
acanthus as an herb, with several medicinal properties. These include:-
“The leaves being boiled and used in clysters,
is excellent good to mollify the belly. The decoction drank
inwardly, is excellent and good for the bloody-flux.”
“The leaves, being bruised or rather boiled and applied like a
poultice are excellent good to unite broken bones and strengthen joints
that have been put out. The decoction of either leaves or roots being
drank, and the decoction of leaves applied to the place, is good for
the king’s evil that is broken and runs; for by the influence
of the moon, it revives the ends of the veins which are relaxed.”
“There is scarce a better remedy to be applied
to such places are burnt with fire that this is, for it fetches
out the fire, and heals it without a scar.”
Cultivation and position
New Flora and Silva, 1928
…”Recommend Acanthus Spinosus, Mollis and Latifolius, a position
to site them is in the Lawn as a focal point.”
A further letter praises Caroli-Alexander and Perringii, although the
author of the letter does point out that wood lice have a taste for the
leaves of the latter!
As a general rule, Acanthus grow in well drained
soils - they don’t
like to be sitting in water, especially during winter. The herbaceous
species are native to dry rocky hills and make striking border plants
in cool temperate zones. They thrive equally well in both sun and dense
shade, although they tend to flower more prolifically in sun and are
slightly more compact whilst they produce more and larger leaves in shade.
Most of the Acanthus we grow, are plants which have handsome
basal leaves from which emerge densely packed spikes of hooded flowers.
Some have fragrant flowers and the flower spikes are useful, when dried,
for winter decoration.
EA Bowles once said “Acanthus will sometimes sulk for years after
planting (or replanting), but once they forgive you they ramp, while
every atom of broken rootlet left in a two foot hole will sprout up into
stronger plants than those removed”.
Plant Acanthus in a position where you want them to remain as once established,
they are hard to eradicate! They make excellent specimen plants in tubs
and pots.
As a general rule, acanthus grow in well drained
soils - they don’t
like to be sitting in water, especially during winter. They thrive equally
well in both sun and dense shade, although they tend to flower more prolifically
in sun and are slightly more compact whilst they produce more and larger
leaves in shade.
Mildew can be a problem with large crowded Acanthus plants but if cut
down, the leaves soon re-sprout.
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