A spiny-leaved shrub with pink and white tubular flowers, common in disturbed forest and roadside vegetation across West Africa.
Acanthus montanus (family Acanthaceae), known in English as mountain thistle or bear's breech, is a thinly branched perennial up to about 1.8 metres tall, with a woody stem base and hairy joints. Its glossy, dark green leaves, up to 30 cm long, are clustered near the base, with silver markings, wavy edges and spines. Its pale pink flowers are borne on upright spikes. In cultivation it prefers shade and occasional deep watering, though it tolerates sun and drought, and its aggressive roots suit it to slopes.
It is native to tropical Africa, from Sierra Leone and from Benin to Chad, Zambia and Angola, in wet, shady places such as stream banks and periodically flooded swampy gallery forest with raffia palms. The Flora of West Tropical Africa lists Nigerian collections from Patti hill at Lokoja, from Vom on the Jos Plateau at 900 to 1,400 metres, and from Okomu forest near Benin, Ibadan, Onitsha and Oban. In Cameroon it was collected at Victoria, Buea and Vogel Peak. Among the Igbo of Agbani, Enugu State, it is called ogwu agamevu. A note in the Netherlands herbarium records its use as a cold remedy: the leaves are kneaded in clear, cold water and the liquid is drunk.
Sources: PROTA4U database (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa), which compiles records from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève, FAO EcoCrop and other botanical databases; Wikipedia, "Acanthus montanus".
Roots and leaves are used in Nigeria and across West Africa to treat boils and furuncles, coughs, urinary and genital infections, and body pain.
Young leaves are cooked and eaten as a vegetable in some West African cuisines.
A wild shrub of forest margins, roadsides, and disturbed ground; also grown as an ornamental hedge for its glossy, spiny foliage.