Acanthus mollis

Acanthus mollis is one of the great architectural plants of the garden, a clump-forming perennial whose large, glossy, deeply cut leaves are among the most recognizable of all foliage. They are, quite literally, the leaves of antiquity: their form was carved into the capitals of Corinthian columns by Greek and Roman builders, and the legend, told by Vitruvius, holds that the sculptor Callimachus took his inspiration from a clump of acanthus growing up around a basket left on a girl's grave. Few plants carry their history so plainly in their shape.

The foliage builds a bold mound of dark green, and in early to midsummer tall spikes rise above it, hooded white flowers cowled in dusky purple bracts, stiff and statuesque. In the South the leaves are more or less evergreen; the plant dies back only in hard cold and returns reliably from fleshy roots. It has a long history in herbal medicine as well, the leaves and roots valued by Mediterranean healers as a soothing emollient.

In the garden it is grown above all for its leaves, which give weight and structure to a shaded or part-shaded border and read beautifully against finer textures. Give it deep, well-drained soil and room to spread, place it where the foliage can be admired, and be aware that the roots travel: a happy acanthus is a permanent one.