Acadia
a former French colony in North America, including Nova Scotia and nearly all of New Brunswick, settled in 1604. When, by the peace of Utrecht (1713), it was given to the English, the inhabitants, having refused to take the oath of allegiance, were ordered to leave their homes. The story of their sorrow is touchingly introduced into Longfellow's "Evangeline."
ACANTHACEÆ, an order of monopetalous exogens, with two stamina; or, if there are four, then they are didynamous. The ovary is two-celled, with hard, often hooked, placentæ, and has from one or two to many seeds. There are often large, leafy bracts. The acanthaceæ are mostly tropical plants, many of them being Indian. They have both a resemblance and an affinity to the Scrophulariaceæ of this country, but are distinguishable at once by being prickly and spinous. In 1846 Lindley estimated the known species at 750, but it is believed that as many as 1,500 are now in herbariums. known in architectural sculpture, is the The acanthus, so well type of the order.