- Family:
- Acanthaceae Juss.
Acanthus L.

[FSOM]
M. Thulin et al. Flora of Somalia Vol. 1-4 [updated 2008] https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOS
- Morphology General Habit
- Robust perennial herbs or shrubs
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves pinnately lobed to divided, sometimes with pseudostipules
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers in dense terminal spikes; bracts large, spinose-dentate; bracteoles lanceolate to linear
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx 4-lobed; upper and lower lobes larger than the lateral ones
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla 1-lipped (upper lip absent), 3-lobed; tube short
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Stamens 4; filaments similar; anthers 1-celled, connate in pairs
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Fruit a capsule
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Seeds glabrous or puberulous.
- Distribution
- Some 30 species in tropical to warm temperate parts of the Old World.
[FTEA]
Acanthaceae (part 1), Kaj Vollesen, Flora of Tropical East Africa, 2008
- Morphology General Habit
- Perennial herbs, shrubs or small trees; cystoliths absent.
- Morphology Leaves
- Leaves opposite or in whorls of 4, usually leathery with pale yellow thickened midrib, veins and margins, alternate pair if present usually much reduced, with sessile scale-like glands.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
- Flowers in terminal or axillary racemoid cymes; bracts large, leathery, with 3 prominent longitudinal veins, with spinose margin or entire; bracteoles 2, filiform to ovate, spinose or entire. It is immediately recognisable by its large dark red flowers.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx
- Calyx divided to base into 4 glumaceous sepals which are thickened and horny at the base; dorsal sepal 1–3-veined, entire or with 2–3 small teeth, ventral 2-veined, entire or with 2 large triangular teeth or irregularly toothed, lateral 1-veined.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla
- Corolla tube short, white, thickened and spongy apically, with a dense band of thick retrorse hairs apically; limb split dorsally to give a 3–5-lobed lip, basally with a thickened callus, on both sides of and on callus with thick bulbous-based retrorse hairs; lobes broadly oblong, rounded or central emarginate.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens
- Stamens 4, exserted, inserted just inside throat, two posterior held above anterior; two pair of filaments similar, curved, thick and bony, laterally compressed; anthers 1-thecous, oblong, with brushes of stiff hairs along whole length ventrally.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary
- Ovary 2-locular with 2 ovules per locule; style linear, glabrous; stigma of 2 lanceolate, acute lobes.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
- Capsule 2–4-seeded, woody, ellipsoid, glossy, sessile, flattened dorsiventrally and rounded apically.
- Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
- Seed discoid, glabrous or sericeous-puberulous.
- Distribution
- Range: About 25 species from southern Europe to the Pacific and south through Africa to Angola, Zambia and Malawi.
Native to:
Albania, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Congo, East Aegean Is., East Himalaya, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kenya, Kriti, Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Nigeria, Northern Territory, Palestine, Philippines, Queensland, Romania, Rwanda, Santa Cruz Is., Sardegna, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Solomon Is., Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sumatera, Tanzania, Thailand, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Uganda, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Western Australia, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre
Introduced into:
Azores, Baleares, California, Canary Is., Corse, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Madeira, Mauritius, Mexico Central, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Portugal, Spain
- Acanthus albus Debnath, B.K.Singh & P.Giri
- Acanthus arboreus Forssk.
- Acanthus austromontanus Vollesen
- Acanthus carduaceus Griff.
- Acanthus caroli-alexandri Hausskn.
- Acanthus caudatus Lindau
- Acanthus dioscoridis L.
- Acanthus ebracteatus Vahl
- Acanthus eminens C.B.Clarke
- Acanthus flexicaulis Bremek.
- Acanthus gaed Lindau
- Acanthus greuterianus Snogerup, B.Snogerup & Strid
- Acanthus guineensis Heine & P.Taylor
- Acanthus hirsutus Boiss.
- Acanthus hungaricus (Borbás) Baen.
- Acanthus ilicifolius L.
- Acanthus kulalensis Vollesen
- Acanthus latisepalus C.B.Clarke
- Acanthus leucostachyus Wall. ex Nees
- Acanthus longibracteatus Kurz
- Acanthus mayaccanus Büttner
- Acanthus mollis L.
- Acanthus montanus (Nees) T.Anderson
- Acanthus polystachyus Delile
- Acanthus sennii Chiov.
- Acanthus seretii De Wild.
- Acanthus spinosus L.
- Acanthus ueleensis De Wild.
- Acanthus villaeanus De Wild.
- Acanthus volubilis Wall.
Acanthus L. appears in other Kew resources:
First published in Sp. Pl.: 639 (1753)
Accepted by
- Govaerts, R. (1995). World Checklist of Seed Plants 1(1, 2): 1-483, 529. MIM, Deurne.
Literature
Flora of West Tropical Africa
- —F.T.A. 5: 105.
Flora of Somalia
- Flora Somalia, (2000) Author: M. Thulin [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- DC., Prodr. 11: 270 (1847)
- F.T.A. 5: 105 (1899)
- G.P. 2: 1090 (1876)
- Gen. Pl.: 286 (1754)
- K.B. 62: 233 (2007)
- Sp. Pl.: 639 (1753)
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Flora of Somalia
Flora of Somalia
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
-
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
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Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
-
Kew Backbone Distributions
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
-
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0