Devil's-bit Scabious

Name: Devil's-bit Scabious

Scientific name: Succisa pratensis

Category: Flowers

Nature Stars: 60

What are nature stars?

About: This tall, nodding plant flowers between June and October and prefers wet areas, rough grasslands, roadsides and hedge verges.

How to identify: Look for flat, rounded flower heads from blue to pinky-purple. Leaves are long and oval, differing from those of Field Scabious which are dark green and hairy with many pointed 'fingers'.

Where: Grows a lot throughout the UK and Ireland.

Fantastic fact: This plant gets its name from its traditional use as a treatment for skin conditions such as scabies the sores of bubonic plague. Scabere is the lating word for scratch.

Photograph credit: Richard Burkmar