Scabious - Devils Bit - Wildflowers of The Western Isles
Devils bIt - Scabious has rounded, pincushion-like and violet-blue flowerheads that appear from July to October. Male and female flowers are produced on different heads. The female flowers are smaller. The flowers grow in threes on stems about 30cm tall. The plant produces low-growing rosettes of narrow leaves covered with minute hairs. This perennial herb produces beautiful flowers from August to October, which shed their seed a month later
The tall-flowered stems of this plant can be seen in the summer are easily recognized by the mode of branching of the flowering stems. The stem is simple - that is, not branched below, but branched above. The smooth leaves are hairy - egg-shaped at the base. The stem-leaves are linear.
The flowerhead of the Devil's Bit is hemispherical, there are between 50 - 80 florets all one size, 50-80, they are easily seen and in the summer attract many insects.
Anthers and Stigmas
The anthers ripen first, and anthers and stigmas ripen separately which means that it is cross-pollinated
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Devils Bit - Scabious - Wildflowers |
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Devils Bit - Purple Wildflowers |
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Bees - Hoverflies - Butterflies Like The Devils Bit Flowers
Devil's-bit scabious provides nectar for hoverflies, bees and butterflies, and is famously the larval food plant of the rare marsh fritillary. This butterfly has undergone a rapid decline in distribution and numbers and has been identified as a species that requires urgent conservation measures
Medicinal Uses Around The Time of The Plague
Species of scabious were used to treat Scabies, and other afflictions of the skin including sores caused by the Bubonic Plague. The word scabies comes from the Latin word for scratch (scabere).
Devils Bit - Name Derivation
Devil's-bit scabious is so named because its roots end abruptly - in times gone by people said that this was as though they had been bitten off by the devil.
Stem and Leaves
The stem is simple - that is, not branched below, but branched above. The flowers stalk is long reaacjing up to a foot or 18 inches in height. The smooth leaves are hairy - egg-shaped at the base. The stem-leaves are linear |
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