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Field scabious carries flat, lilac-blue flower heads on tall, bristly stems from July to September. Each head is a cluster of many small florets, with larger ones around the edge, and long pink-tipped stamens that give it the look of a pincushion, one of its old country names. It grows on dry, well-drained grassland, banks, verges and field edges.
It is one of the best wildflowers for pollinators, visited by bumblebees, hoverflies and many butterflies. It also supports a rare specialist, the large scabious mining bee, which collects pollen almost only from scabious flowers and carries home loads tinted pink by it.
Its genus name honours the 17th-century German botanist Christoph Knaut, while "scabious" comes from the plant's old use in treating scabies and other skin complaints. Where devil's-bit scabious favours damp ground, field scabious prefers the drier, free-draining soils found on old spoil, where thin, low-nutrient ground keeps coarser grasses from crowding it out.
Field scabious carries flat, lilac-blue flower heads on tall, bristly stems from July to September. Each head is a cluster of many small florets, with larger ones around the edge, and long pink-tipped stamens that give it the look of a pincushion, one of its old country names. It grows on dry, well-drained grassland, banks, verges and field edges.
It is one of the best wildflowers for pollinators, visited by bumblebees, hoverflies and many butterflies. It also supports a rare specialist, the large scabious mining bee, which collects pollen almost only from scabious flowers and carries home loads tinted pink by it.
Its genus name honours the 17th-century German botanist Christoph Knaut, while "scabious" comes from the plant's old use in treating scabies and other skin complaints. Where devil's-bit scabious favours damp ground, field scabious prefers the drier, free-draining soils found on old spoil, where thin, low-nutrient ground keeps coarser grasses from crowding it out.