Under this name have been described by the classical writers three different plants: 1. A prickly tree, with smooth evergreen leaves and saffron-colored berries, believed to be the common holly. 2. A prickly Egyptian tree, with a pod like a bean, supposed to be the acacia Arabica, or gum arabic tree. 8. An herb with broad prickly leaves, which dies in the winter, but shoots out afresh in the spring. The idea of the beautiful Corinthian capitals of the Greek columns is said to have been derived from a basket filled with the roots of this plant, set down carelessly by a girl, and covered with a tile; when the leaves, forcing their way through the crevices, and rising toward the light, until met by the under side of the cover, presented the effect of the foliage and volutes simulated by the Grecian chisel. In modern botany acanthus is a genus of herbaceous plants found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India, the commonest species of which is the acanthus mollis, a native of moist, shady places in the south of Europe. It has pretty foliage and large white flowers tinged with pale yellow.

This was long supposed to be the classic plant of antiquity; but it has been shown that it does not exist either in the Peloponnesus or in the isles of Greece, and the honor of having furnished the idea of the Corinthian capital is now attributed to the acanthus spinosus, which has deeply cleft prickly leaves, and flowers tinged with pink instead of yellow. In England they are both half-hardy perennials, needing protection from frost, and propagated by subdivision of the roots. In America they would probably endure the winter south of Maryland; northward they would be greenhouse plants. - The word acanthus also signifies thorn, as in acanthopterygious, thorny-finned, applied to an order of fishes.

Acanthus mollis.