ACANTHUS

, in Architecture, the leaves of a plant which forms the ornament of the capital of the Corinthian order. Vitruvius ascribes the use of it to the following accident. A young girl dying, her nurse was desirous of consecrating to her manes certain toys which she was fond of in her life-time; which the good woman carried in a little basket, covered with a square tile, and placed it among some green plants which grew on her grave. One of these, which happened to be the acanthus, as it grew up, invironed and in a manner embraced the basket; which Callimachus, a noted Greek sculptor, casting his eyes upon, from thence took the hint of this elegant ornament. See Abacus.