Grote Bereklauw (Big Acanthus)

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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Engraving ornamental design is mostly inspired on the Acanthus.
This plant has several varieties and the most impressive one in my opinion, named in Dutch is “Grote Bereklauwâ€￾ (Big Acanthus)
While walking my dogs I saw one growing by the day and I couldn’t resist capturing photos of this one.
I know, if you Google you will find much better photos of the Big Acanthus, but this one is growing on my daily walking the dogs path

arnaud









 

Frank P

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Arnaud , I learned about that *"*ç%ç the hard way..
When about 16 years old, I ve destroyed some , to clear a path, but the milky substance inside the plant , combined with sunlight gave me some terrible burning wound on my arms...yes, Karma is a b*"+%
I still don t approach them anymore... but of course they still are a beauty to watch
My buddy makes didgeridoos out of them when they are dried out, but I don t even think about to touch em, even dead....
 

Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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Yes Frank, a lot of people don't know you better don't touch them.
The Dutch name "Grote Bereklauw" means Big Bear Claw and the plant is probably named like that because it can scratch you.
All of those characteristics of the plant makes it so impressive that it is an inspiration for centuries in my opinion

arnaud
 
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Bearclaw-Heracleum belongs to Apiaceae Family and has nothing to do with Acanthus that belongs to Acanthaceae-family.
Bearclaw is considered serious pest in Denmark and is destroyed by the authoirities.
 

Brian Marshall

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I have 3 kinds of acanthus growing here on the place.

None look like Arnauds example... and none look even vaguely like what is called "American scroll" (not even stylized) yet I hear that called acanthus all the time.

Always by engravers who have never seen the actual plant.

Our stone cutter member does indeed use acanthus that can be recognized as such in his works.


Brian
 
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Arnaud Van Tilburgh

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Thanks both Brian and Victor. I'm always in to learn something new. I based my information on the internet and the information seems to be wrong.
As I probably am
Not the only one here in the Cafe who don't really know how the Acanthus looks like besides engraved ones, wouldn't it worth the effort to post some nice images of the Acanthus we draw with our gravers?
 

Chujybear

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Don't want to give anybody a bum stear, so do your own research. This may be a purely toxic variant. But this looks like what we call cow parsnip; which besides carrying a phototoxin, is delicious.
You do have to be carful to peak all the skin of it. And it's refreshing flavor is tempered by its astringent nature. But I do like it.
Does surprise me that it is the base of all those scrolls. I wonder why (before it became just tradition) it was chosen to be such a foundational piece of the scroll work?
 
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