This page covers our range of Bear’s Breeches so that you can do a quick comparison side by side. I’ve set them out in a rough size order from smallest to largest. Each entry links back to the product in our shop. If the one you would like is currently out of stock, please get in touch and we can let you know if there are more in the pipeline.

Acanthus dioscoridis

Acanthus dioscoridis

Acanthus dioscoridis

  • Acanthus dioscoridis.
Acanthus dioscorides var. peringii

Acanthus dioscorides var. peringii

Acanthus dioscoridis var. perringii

  • Acanthus dioscoridis var. perringii. A short really spiky acanthus for growing in a spot that is warm and dry. Full sun will bring the best flowering when the highly unusual short spikes of hooded flowers can best be appreciated. Differs from Acanthus dioscoridis in the divided nature of the leaves. Flowers pale to deeper pink covered by pink veined hoods. 40cm. A good alternative to the larger species where space is limited.
Acanthus hisutus

Acanthus hisutus

Acanthus hirsutus

  • Acanthus hirsutus . A choice dwarf species of Acanthus from Turkey which bucks the trend both on its hairy nature and in the colour of its flowers. The leaves are long narrow and deeply divided forming dense clumps. The flowering spikes are densely hairy and carry soft yellow flowers hooded with hairy green bracts. Best grown in full sun in a well drained soil. 40cm. I’ve read that it is non spreading, but mine seems to have missed out on that piece of advice.
Acanthus mollis 'Tasmanian Angel'

Acanthus mollis ‘Tasmanian Angel’

Acanthus mollis ‘Tasmanian Angel’

  • Acanthus hirsutus . A choice dwarf species of Acanthus from Turkey which bucks the trend both on its hairy nature and in the colour of its flowers. The leaves are long narrow and deeply divided forming dense clumps. The flowering spikes are densely hairy and carry soft yellow flowers hooded with hairy green bracts. Best grown in full sun in a well drained soil. 40cm. I’ve read that it is non spreading, but mine seems to have missed out on that piece of advice.

  • Bold architectural leaves are variously splashed and edged in white, a colouring that fades through the season. Flower spikes are white, colouring pink as they mature. A little neater and hardier than acanthus ‘Whitewater’

Acanthus 'Whitewater'

Acanthus ‘Whitewater’

Acanthus ‘Whitewater’

  • The leaves of this most striking variety are variably edged and splashed in white. The flower spikes are also a ghostly cream with contracting red stems. Altogether a variety which is sure to attract attention

Acanthus mollis 'Hollard's Gold' ('Fielding Gold')

Acanthus mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’ (‘Fielding Gold’)

Acanthus mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’ (‘Fielding Gold’)

  • A new form of Acanthus mollis with beautiful, bold broad shining golden foliage, particularly in Spring and Autumn, but also goldy in Summer if grown in the shade. Typical white slipper shaped flowers with strong purple hoods grow on 90cm tall stems, persisting for a long time from June to September. Perhaps not quite as hardy as the type but still good to -10 degrees especially if protected with a mulch, a course thatr is essential for the first Winter.

Acanthus spinosus Spinossisimus Group

  • The spiniest, prickliest form of Acanthus spinosus. The leaves are so finely cut that they are reduced to a veinal framework with every part of the leaf a handsome silver spike. It thrives in hot dry conditions although it flowers less precociously than the type. Still the foliage is amazing with its combination of dark green ground almost completely silvered over. It’s ferocious mind – our neighbour grows it in his plant jail alongside his golden stinging nettle ! 75cm

Acanthus mollis Latifolius group

Acanthus mollis Latifolius group

Acanthus mollis ‘Latifolius’

  • Acanthus mollis ‘Latifolius’. Handsome and stately with dense clumps of deeply lobed leaves and stiff spikes densely packed with four rows of purple shrouded white flowers. This variant on Acanthus mollis is denser and squatter than the type. The leaves are broader in their lobes, making the lobes ovelap and creating very dense cover. They are of a very deep glossy green. Well drained soil in full sun; Height between 90 & 150cm
Acanthus mollis Latifolius group

Acanthus mollis Latifolius group

Acanthus mollis

  • Acanthus mollis . This is the classic Bear’s Breeches that is so used in Classical decoration. Handsome deeply lobed leaves and stiff spikes densely packed with four rows of purple shrouded white flowers. This species is more open than its variety ‘Latifolius’ and paler in colour. Well drained soil in full sun; Height between 90 & 150cm

 

Acanthus hungaricus

Acanthus hungaricus

Acanthus hungaricus  (Acanthus balcanicus)

  • Acanthus hungaricus  (Acanthus balcanicus). Handsome and stately with dense clumps of deeply lobed leaves and stiff spikes densely packed with four rows of purple shrouded pale pink flowers. The cross shaped arrangement of the flowers is particularly noticeable with the flowers stacked vertically in neat rows.The foliage is a pale green with narrow lobes that are continuous along the stem between each lobe. Well drained soil in full sun; Height between 90 & 150cm
Acanthus spinosus

Acanthus spinosus

Acanthus spinosus ‘Lady Moore’

  • Acanthus spinosus ‘Lady Moore’. Handsome plants with large shining ornamental foliage. This species has deeply divided glossy dark green leaves, which in ‘Lady Moore’ are splashed and spotted cream in Spring when the plant is growing vigorously. Spires of hooded foxglove-like flowers. Height 4-5 feet. the cream variegation does not show up in potted plants.

Acanthus is the hardiest Genus in its family, coming mainly from the eastern Mediterranean coast across into Turkey, growing on dry rocky hills. They prefer to grow in a well-drained site in a sunny position. They will grow in light shade, but flower much better in the sun. They are long lived architectural plants with deep coloured, glossy foliage of great merit and tall spikes set with hooded flowers stacked up in even columns which are great for the bees. Each flower consists of a purple or pink hood above a contrasting white lip. The foliage, especially on the smaller species dies off completely with the frosts.

The lovely architectural leaves on the Genus were the inspiration for the acanthus Leaf decoration used on the top of Corinthian columns. It is a stylised form and was probably based around the leaves of either Acanthus mollis or Acanthus spinosus. The legend of how they came to be chosen goes along these lines. The Greek architect, Callimachos, was visiting the tomb of a young woman who died on the eve of her wedding day. A previous visitor had left a basket covered by a tile standing on an Acanthus plant. Callimachos noticed that the tile had bent back a leaf in a particularly decorative shape. He then took this inspiration and used it on the columns of a Temple he was working on in Corinth. Vitruvius tells that it was the family’s maid who took the basket, containing the woman’s favourite goblets and that the tile was to shed the rain. The basket stood until the new growth twined around the basket in a most pleasing way.

Acanthus was commonly used as decoration in Roman and Greek homes, both as garland and as motifs on friezes and on clothing. Helen of Troy was said to have had Acanthus decoration on her clothing according to Virgil.

Acanthus have found a use in cough medicines.

In the 17th century Acanthus was known as Brank-ursine, or Bear’s claw – possibly in reference to the shape of the flowers.

The origin of the name Bear’s Breeches is a fancied resemblance of the softly hairy leaves and stalks (Acanthus hirsutus ?) to the rump and legs of a hairy bear. I think this one takes some imagination !

Acanthus comes from the Greek  ‘akanthe’ – a thorn

Acanthus – Acanthaceae . Bear’s Breeches, Brank-ursine, Oyster plant.