MEDICINAL AND HERBAL USES, MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE
Researched and written by Enda McMullen
Acanthus is linked to architecture, with Vitruvius writing in “On Architecture” that the plant became a famous
feature in Corinthian architecture after a popular young woman died of an unknown disease and her maid put a
basket with her favourite things by the tomb. The basket was placed on top of the root of an Acanthus plant,
which promptly grew and folded itself around the basket giving the pattern of leaves that distinguishes the
Corinthian columns. The leaf of the plant went through its own “renaissance” when Renaissance architects and
artist copied the Corinthian motive in their sculptures and architecture. The ancient city of Akanthos, near
today’s Lerissos in the North East of Greece got its name from the abundance of Acanthus in the area.
As a healing plant, Acanthus was a very important plant from the days of antiquity right up to the last century,
when it still featured heavily in folk-medicine around the Mediterranean and to a lesser extent England where it
had been imported and successfully grown in the southern parts, mainly Cornwall. It was then called Brank
Ursine, after the bear-claw shape of the leaf. Culpeper sings the praises of the plant as an excellent medicine
to solve digestive problems, regulate the stool, and draw out urine. It was also used to make a poultice which
was applied to burns, piles, arthritis and rheumatism. Together with Comfrey (Symphytum), Acanthus has a
serious reputation for healing broken bones.
Dioscorides has similar high praise for the plant, and specifies that the roots are the most effective part in
terms of medicine.
In January 2013 the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine published an article on the Antioxidant and
cytotoxic activity of related Acanthus ilicifolius flower, which concluded that the flower “can be considered as
potential antioxidant and cytotoxic agents as well as imminent candidate for cancer therapy”