Acanthus by Nicholas Turland
- Subject: Acanthus by Nicholas Turland
- From: D* W*
- Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2001 09:46:56 -0700
posted for Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
I've seen Acanthus mollis grown in Greece and in the Canary Islands. In the
latter area it was making a much more healthy-looking plant with glossy
mid-green leaves, rather than the normal mat dark green. I also grew it
myself in England, and would definitely rate it as a very showy garden plant
when in flower. Only problem was it seemed succeptible to powdery mildew on
the leaves in late summer and autumn. That may perhaps have been the local
soil/weather conditions. Is it invasive? I wouldn't say that: my plant
didn't spread horizontally, apart from the clump gradually getting bigger,
but just try digging it up without it coming back again! If you leave so
much as a fragment of the thick vertical roots, even over 1 ft/30 cm down,
the plant will sprout again, phoenix-like.
Another species that grows wild in the Med basin is Acanthus spinosus. It
has smaller, harder leaves covered with sharp spines, and the same color
flowers (lilac and white) but in a shorter spike, to about 2 ft/60 cm tall.
I think there's also a hybrid between this species and A. mollis in
cultivation. Even neater are some of the montane tropical East African
species. One, A. sennii, from Ethiopia, is a shrub to about 6 ft/2 m with
spiny leaves and bright red (yes, red) flowers. It grew well outside in the
Mediterranean border at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London in the early
'90s (and may well still do so). Beautifiul plant, and would presumably
attract hummingbirds in North America. I guess it's sunbird pollinated in
its native haunts.
Nick
