Plant Profile

Back to Plant Directory

Acanthus Mollis

Common names: Grecian Leaf Wild Rhubarb, bear's breeches, sea dock, bear's foot plant, sea holly, oyster plant
Family:
Plant Type :
Height :
Evergreen :
Indigenous :


Position :
Moisture :
Soil :
Wind :
Frost :

Acanthaceae
Sub Shrub
Up to 1 m
Evergreen
International


Full Shade / Semi-Shade
Lots of water
Enriched Soil
Wind Tender
Frost Tender



These plants are usually propagated from tubers and tend to form large, localized clumps which can survive for several decades and look statuesque when well-grown.


Foliage
Type :
Colour :
Use :
Other :

Identification Tool :
Simple
Green , Dark Green
Decorative


  • - Leaf morphology


    It is a leafy, clump-forming perennial with a basal rosette of relatively large, dark glossy green, lobed or toothed leaves 50 cm long and 30 cm wide on a petiole 20–30 cm long.


    Flower
    Type :
    Time :
    Colour :
    Use :
    Other :

    Identification Tool :
    Bilateral (Zygomorphic)
    Summer
    White , Green , Magenta , Light Purple , Purple
    For Vase


  • - Flower morphology


    It has purplish and white flowers that are borne on an erect spike up to 200 cm tall emerging from the leaf rosette.

    The sepals are purplish and function as the upper and lower lips of the petals, the upper lip about 4 cm long and the lower lip 3 cm long. The petals are about 4–4.5 cm long and form a tube with a ring of hairs where the stamens are attached.

    It is pollinated only by bees or bumble bees large enough to force their way between the upper sepal and the lower, so that they can reach the nectar at the bottom of the tube.


    NOTES

    Its suitability as a garden plant is lessened on account of its invasive nature (new plants are produced readily both from seed and portions of root) and its susceptibility to attacks from slugs and snails


  • Reference Plant profile


    Back to Plant Full List >>