A large plant family known for colorful flowers and often featuring unusual leaf shapes or thorny stems.
From Latin 'acanthus' + '-aceae' (botanical family suffix). This scientific naming convention emerged in the 18th century Linnaean classification system.
This family includes ornamental plants like ruellia and thunbergia that you've probably seen in gardens—they're named after the spiky acanthus even though many aren't actually spiky!
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