ACANTHUS MOLLIS

Family and Genus:- See- ACANTHACEAE

Common Name:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Acanthus mollis var. nigra

Meaning:- Acanthus (Gr) Spiny, thorny.

Mollis (L) Softly hairy, soft.

Plant:- Stout, medium to tall perennial.

Stem:-

1) 25-100(-200) cm.

Leaves:-

1) Glabrous to puberulent.

2) Basal, lamina 20-60 x 5-15 cm, ovate, pinnatifid. lobes not narrowed at the

base, incise-dentate, long-petiolate.

3) Upper cauline,:1-3 cm, more or less ovate, spinose-dentate, more or less

sessile.

Flowers:-

1) In dense, terminal, cylindrical spikes.

2) Corolla, 3·5-5 cm,1-lipped (upper lip absent), 3-lobed. tube short. whitish with

purple veins.

3) Bracts, large, c. 4 cm. ovate. usually glabrous.

4) Bracteoles, entire, lanceolate to linear.

5) Calyx, 4-lobed. upper and lower lobes large, lateral small.

6) Stamens, 4, included.

7) Anthers, 1-celled, united in pairs.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, loculicidal with indurated funicles (jaculators) which eject the seeds.

Key features:-

1) Basal leaves not spinose-dentate.

2) Leaf-lobes not narrowed at the base.

3) Lower lip of calyx glabrous at the apex

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Meadows, roadsides, woodland margins, abandoned cultivation,

sometimes forming large colonies.

Distribution:- A W and C Mediterranean species often cultivated. Rare on Crete.

currently known from a few scattered locations, but probably under recorded.

Flowering time:- May-July.

Photo by:- Steve Lenton