''Acanthus montanus'', also known as bear's breech or mountain thistle and in Igbo; ''ogwu_ahga'' (in Agbani, Enugu State Nigeria) is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''

Acanthus Acanthus (: acanthus, rarely acanthuses in English, or acanthi in Latin), its feminine form acantha (plural: acanthae), the Latinised form of the ancient Greek word acanthos or akanthos, or the prefix acantho-, may refer to: Biology *Acanthus ...

''. It is native to tropical Africa, growing in wet and shady places like stream borders in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in West Africa and from

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

in central Africa. It is a thinly branched

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

with basal clusters of oblong to lance-shaped glossy, dark green leaves reaching up to long. The leaves have silver marks, wavy margins and thorns. It reaches up to tall and about wide. Spikes of pale pink flowers appear summer to fall. In cultivation it prefers shady situations and occasional deep watering, but tolerates sunny, dry situations too. Its aggressive roots make this plant well suited to slopes.

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montanus Montanus (; Greek: Μοντανός) was the second century founder of Montanism and a self-proclaimed prophet. Montanus emphasized the work of the Holy Spirit, in a manner which set him apart from the Great Church. Life Little is known about t ...

Flora of Sierra Leone Flora of Angola Flora of Benin Flora of Chad Flora of Nigeria Flora of West-Central Tropical Africa flora of Zambia Plants described in 1847 Taxa named by Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck {{Acanthaceae-stub