Devil’s-bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis, at Buxton Heath, late August 2020.

We are now at summer’s end. Days are noticeably shorter and there are fewer flowers and insects, but there are still many things to look at and enjoy. Not least are late flowering plants such as Ivy (and its attendant insects), Grass of Parnassus and Devil’s-bit Scabious.

Devil’s-bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis, is flowering at the moment in Norfolk, and attracting plenty of hoverflies, butterflies and bees.

It is a perennial plant which has a basal rosette of leaves. From July onwards the plants send up nodding stems up to one metre (40 inches) tall, topped with flower heads, a tight bunch of buds (described as like boxing gloves) which open out into lilac-blue pincushions.

Succisa pratensis in bud: “like boxing gloves“.

Succisa pratensis – open flower, like a pincushion.
Many more photos can be found on the Wildflower Finder website.

Devil’s-bit Scabious is one of three native species of scabious in the British Isles, the others being Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, and Field Scabious, Knautia arvensis. Along with Teazels (Dipsacus sp.), these plants form a natural grouping: family Dipsacaceae (the Teasel family), or subfamily Dipsacoideae, part of the Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family) (note 1).

Small Scabious grows in dry, calcareous grassland and in rocky places such as cliff tops, and Field Scabious grows in dry, grassy places on light soils. In contrast, Devil’s-bit Scabious is found in a wide variety of grassy places, including woodland rides, heathland and grassland and in mires, and in the uplands on cliff ledges and in ravines.

In Norfolk, Devil’s-bit Scabious grows in very different places: in valley mires and fens such as at Upton Fen and Buxton Heath, but also on the dry chalk ramparts of an Iron Age fort at Warham Camp. These areas have one thing in common:  more dominant species of plant are being held in check either because the soil is not particularly fertile, or because of grazing pressure.

Succisa pratensis is found throughout the British Isles in suitable areas where the grassland has not been “improved” (note 2), but it has had a widespread decline in southern and eastern England since 1950.

Scabious plants were used to treat skin conditions such as scabies (a contagious skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, note 3), and even bubonic plague. Devil’s-bit Scabious is still used in the treatment of eczema and other skin conditions. Other medicinal uses listed on the Plants for a Future website include the treatment of coughs, fevers and internal inflammations, and externally to treat bruises or conjunctivitis. Young shoots are edible and sometimes used in spring salads.

It is illegal to dig up plants without the landowner’s permission (note 4) and I don’t recommend it for Devil’s-bit Scabious, but if you did you would find that the root is black and rather short. The suggested reason was that the Devil bit the bottom of the root off, because he was angry at the plant’s medicinal qualities.

As well as being a great source of nectar for insects, Devil’s-bit Scabious is the foodplant of the Marsh Fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia. The butterfly is mainly found in the western half of Britain, having suffered a dramatic decline since the 1970s. I first saw one in The Burren in Ireland in 1985, with my next sightings over thirty years later, near Oban in Scotland (2018) and in the Lake District (2019), where the butterfly has been reintroduced.

Marsh Fritillary, Euphydryas aurinia.

We grow Small Scabious and Field Scabious in our garden. The former is in a gravel garden (now much wilder than when I wrote about it in 2013) and the latter in our wildflower meadow. Both do well in my dry, sandy loam. I haven’t tried growing Devil’s-bit Scabious but it would make a lovely addition to a garden, is very hardy and will flower for a long period.

The RHS website says that Succisa pratensis will grow in any moist soil in sun or partial shade and is excellent for peaty bog garden. Given that it grows wild in well drained conditions at Warham Camp, it might be worth experimenting if your soil is drier. Pot-grown plants are available online (for example, from Claire Austin and Sarah Raven), or you can buy seed (Emorsgate Seeds). Seed is best sown in the autumn: I might even give it a try.

Notes

Note 1 – Clive Stace considers the Dipsaceae to be a family, in his “New Flora of the British Isles“. (Fourth Edition, 2019.)

Note 2 – See Note 3 in my post about Green-winged Orchids.

‘pratensis‘ means ‘growing in meadows‘.

Note 3 – In Latin, scabere means to scratch.

The subspecies of mite Sarcoptes scabiei canis can infest dogs, cats, foxes, pigs, horses and sheep, causing sarcoptic mange.

The condition is very unpleasant in foxes and will lead to the death of an infected fox if it is not treated. It is probably the reason why fox numbers in our part of Norwich have crashed in recent years. (We no longer have foxes next door.)

The National Fox Welfare Society offers free mange treatment.

Note 4 – The Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) makes it illegal “to uproot any wild plant without permission from the landowner or occupier” in Britain. See the Plantlife website for more information.