This plant, seen at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, is not found in any of the local pictorial reference books in Singapore. It was described in The Concise Flora of Singapore Volume 1: Gymnosperms and Dicotyledons by Hsuan Keng published in 1990 (page 187). There is also very little information on this plant in the Internet. So far, I am not able to find other good quality photo of this plant in the Internet.

Three Acanthus species (A. ebracteatus, A. ilicifolius and A. volubilis) can be found in the mangrove area in Singapore. The three species may look similar to each other though there are differences in the plant features. A. ilicifolius has light violet flowers while both A. ebracteatus and A. volubilis have white flowers. A. volubilis is a climber with smooth leaf blades. The leaves of both A. ebracteatus and A. ilicifolius are lobed with spines along the leaf blade.

1. Mangrove of Singapore