Acanthus, the name given by the Greeks and Romans to the plants sometimes also called Bran-cursine, and adopted by Linnæus as the generic name. Acanthus spinosus and Acanthus mollis, natives of the south of Europe, are the species best known, and are of considerable interest as having been more largely conventionalised in sculpture and decoration than any other plant. Acanthus mollis is said to have furnished to Callimachus the idea of the Corinthian capital. The adherence to this form is simply traditional, since numberless other plants lend themselves equally well to the purposes of the designer. The genus Acanthus is the type of the Acanthaceæ, an order of Corolliflorals, allied to Scrophulariaceæ, chiefly tropical, and of no important properties. The majority are mere weeds, but several genera are valued hothouse flowers.