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
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Acanthus
A common plant of the Mediterranean, whose leaves, stylized, form the characteristic decoration of capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders. In scroll form it appears on friezes and panels.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
acanthus
[ə′kan·thəs] (architecture)
A sculptured ornamentation representing the leaves of an Acanthus, a Mediterranean prickly herb.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
acanthus
acanthus
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
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.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.