Acanthus
a genus of plants, the typical one of the order acanthaceæ , or acanthads. In English it is inelegantly termed bear's beech, or, more euphoniously, brank ursine. In architecture , it is the imitation, in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders, of the leaves of a species of acanthus, the A. spinosus, which is found in Greece. The acanthus first copied is supposed to have been growing around a flower pot; and the merit of adopting the suggestion thus afforded for the ornamentation of the capital of a pillar is attributed to Callimachus.
ACAPULCO (ak-a-pōōl'kō), a seaport in Mexico on the Pacific Ocean; has a large and nearly land-locked harbor, but the climate is unwholesome. It exports hides, cedar timber, and fruit. Nearly the whole city was destroyed by earthquakes in 1799, in 1837, and again in 1852. Pop. about 7,500.