Vigorous perennials with noble foliage, mostly from Southern Europe. Long cast out of gardens, they are now beginning to receive more of the attention they deserve. In no position will they look better than carelessly planted here and there on the margin of a shrubbery or thicket, where the leaves of the Acanthus contrast well with those of the ordinary shrubs or herbaceous vegetation. Though quite hardy in all soils, they lower most freely in free loamy soils. Not varying very much in character, all obtainable hardy species would group well together. The most vigorous kind at present in cultivation is one called A. latifolius, almost evergreen, and a fine plant when well established. Few plants are more fitted for adorning wild and semi-wild places, as they grow and increase without rare, and are for foliage or bloom unsurpassed by any of the numerous plants that have been so long neglected through their not being available in any popular system of "flower gardening."