Acanthus (redirected from Acanthos)

acanthus (əkăn`thəs), common name for a member of the Acanthaceae, a family of chiefly perennial herbs and shrubs, mostly native to the tropics. A few members of the family, many of which have decorative spiny leaves, are cultivated as ornamentals—especially the Mediterranean acanthus, or bear's-breech (genus Acanthus), whose ornate leaves were the source of a stylized motif used in Greek and Roman art (see Corinthian order). In Christian art the acanthus symbolizes heaven. Some species of the genus Ruellia are native to and cultivated as ornamentals in North America, chiefly in the South. Acanthus is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Scrophulariacles.

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acanthus

Any of the more than 2,500 plant species that make up the family Acanthaceae, of the figwort order. Acanthus are found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. Most are herbaceous plants or shrubs that grow in tropical rainforests; some are climbers (vines) or trees. Acanthus have simple leaves arranged in opposite pairs on the twigs and enlarged cells called cystoliths in streaks or protuberances in the vegetative parts. The bisexual flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and usually crowded together in clusters. Individual flowers are enclosed by leaflike bracts, which are often coloured and large. Acanthus are mainly of horticultural interest and include some ornamentals.

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acanthus

1. any shrub or herbaceous plant of the genus Acanthus, native to the Mediterranean region but widely cultivated as ornamental plants, having large spiny leaves and spikes of white or purplish flowers: family Acanthaceae

2. a carved ornament based on the leaves of the acanthus plant, esp as used on the capital of a Corinthian column

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acanthus [ə′kan·thəs]

(architecture)

A sculptured ornamentation representing the leaves of anAcanthus,a Mediterranean prickly herb.

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acanthus

acanthus

A common plant of the Mediterranean, whose leaves, stylized, form the characteristic decoration of capitals of Corinthian and Composite orders. In scroll form it appears on friezes, panels, etc.

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Acanthus 

a genus of herbs and, more rarely, bushes of the Acanthaceae family.

Acanthus leaves usually form a rosette and are very large, simple, often pinnately cut, sinuate, and prickly. The blossoms of the dense top circle are usually white, red, or light blue; the bracts are large, prickly, and dented.

There are about 40 species of the acanthus in the warm regions of Asia, in Africa, and in the Mediterranean area. The acanthus is often grown for decoration in the southern USSR. The shape of the leaves of the Acanthus molis, Acanthus spinosus, and Acanthus syriacus is used as ornamentation in Corinthian and Composite capitals, moldings, and acroterions, and in the ornamentation of friezes and cornices.