Acanthus are robust herbaceous perennials with handsome, lobed foliage and tall, erect racemes of two-lipped flowers with colourful bracts
A. spinosus is a handsome herbaceous perennial to 1.2m, with large, deeply lobed and spine-tipped, dark glossy green leaves. Erect spikes of white flowers with spiny purplish bracts in late spring and summer