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Portrait of Field scabious

Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Field scabious

Native · flowers summer to autumn · chalk and limestone grassland, verges and hedgebanks

Knautia arvensis — Caprifoliaceae (formerly Dipsacaceae)

A tall, softly hairy perennial of dry, lime-rich grassland whose flat, pincushion heads of lilac-blue flowers are a magnet for butterflies and bumblebees. It is a plant of old meadows and chalk downs, and also colonises road verges and railway banks. Its lobed leaves and larger, more open flower heads separate it from the devil's-bit scabious, a plant of damper ground.

How to spot them

  • ▸Flat, pincushion flower heads up to about 4 cm across, lilac-blue, with the outer florets larger than the central ones
  • ▸Hairy stems, often to about 1 m or more, and softly bristly, greyish leaves; lower leaves entire, upper leaves deeply lobed
  • ▸Dry, well-drained lime-rich grassland: chalk and limestone downs, rough pasture, hedgebanks and verges
  • ▸Devil's-bit scabious grows in damp places, has undivided oval leaves and smaller, more globe-shaped heads that flower later
  • ▸Small scabious (Scabiosa columbaria) is more delicate and restricted to chalk and limestone

How to know it

Flat lilac-blue pincushion heads on tall hairy stems, with lobed grey-green leaves, on chalk downland; butterflies such as marbled whites cluster on it

Field scabious, Knautia arvensis.

The genus name commemorates a German botanist of the Knaut family, of the 17th century

Knautia — field scabious.

Its old country names include 'bachelor's buttons', 'blue buttons' and 'gypsy rose'

Field scabious (RHS lists these).

Unlike its damp-loving cousin with undivided leaves, this scabious has deeply lobed hairy leaves and grows on dry lime-rich soil

Field scabious versus devil's-bit scabious.

A favoured nectar plant of marbled white and meadow brown butterflies, and of a solitary mining bee that collects its pollen

Field scabious — the scabious mining bee, Andrena hattorfiana, is a specialist.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Family Caprifoliaceae in current classification (RHS), formerly Dipsacaceae, the teasel family
  • •Knautia commemorates the German botanist Knaut, of the 17th century
  • •RHS describes it as a clump-forming, deep-rooted perennial about 1.5 m tall with lilac-blue flower heads up to 4 cm across in summer and autumn
  • •The pincushion flower heads are made up of many small florets, the outer ones larger; each head acts as a landing pad for bees and butterflies
  • •RHS lists the folk names bachelor's buttons, blue buttons, gypsy rose and lady's cushion
  • •Favours chalk, limestone and neutral, well-drained soils, and also colonises verges, railway embankments and waste ground
  • •Marbled white and meadow brown butterflies feed heavily on it
  • •The Latin scabiosa comes from scabies (itch); scabious species were used against skin complaints

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Sources