acanthaceous

[ ak-uhn-they-shuhs ]

adjective

1. having prickly growths.
2. belonging to the plant family Acanthaceae.

acanthaceous

/ ˌækənˈθeɪʃəs /

adjective

1. of or relating to the Acanthaceae, a mainly tropical and subtropical family of flowering plants that includes the acanthus
2. having spiny or prickly outgrowths

Word History and Origins

Origin of acanthaceous¹

1745–55; < New Latin Acanthace ( ae ) ( acanthus, -aceae ) + -ous

Example Sentences

The highest ridge is naked of trees, but to the north the slope is in one portion covered with heavy tree-jungle, in which the underwood is as thick as I have ever seen it: it consists of an Acanthaceous plant; the forest itself of oaks, chesnuts and Rhododendron arboreum, which last is common on the highest margin. 

From Project Gutenberg

The outer flowers in several Acanthaceous genera are large and conspicuous but sterile; the next in order are smaller, open, moderately fertile and capable of cross-fertilisation; whilst the central ones are cleistogamic, being still smaller, closed and highly fertile; so that here the inflorescence consists of three kinds of flowers.

From Project Gutenberg