Hi me and a friend saw these plants recently near Granville Island, Vancouver. From a distance the lavender and white things look like petals, but up close it looks like leaves- almost like on a bougainvillea. The plant also had nasty looking long thorns poking out from the stem and top of the plant. I would love to know what this plant is. Any help in identification is appreciated.
Looks like Acanthus spinosa. Common name Bear's breeches. http://images.google.com/images?q=a...1I7SUNA_en-GB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi P.S Please note correct spelling Acanthus spinosus.
A good garden plant but note that it spreads beneath the ground, and that the inflorescences are spiny. An aunt of mine once grabbed one, apparently to see if it was fragrant and got instead a nasty surprise. Afterward she acted for a time as though some rule of propriety had been broken.
