90 FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



1 80. Hicracmm vitlgatum, Fr. — Stem erect, tall, leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, radical leaves alternate, with forward teeth, purplish below, 

 flower-heads large, yellow, in a panicle or corymb, peduncles straight, 

 phyllaries attenuate. 



Sheep's Bit Scabious (Jasione montana, L.) 



This plant is known only from its present distribution in the North 

 Temperate Zone in Europe, N. Africa, and W. Asia. In Great 

 Britain it is not found in W. Kent, Hunts, Gloucs, Mid Lanes, S.E. 

 Yorks, Cheviotland, E. Lowlands, except in Peebles and Selkirk, and 

 only in Kincardine and Elgin in the E. Highlands. It is not found in 

 Westerness, Mid or N. Ebudes, nor in the W. Highlands, and only in 

 Shedand in the Northern Isles. It is found in Ireland and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Sheep's Bit Scabious grows on heaths and moors at a high elevation 

 in rocky districts, cliff sides or quarries, or natural escarpments where 

 the soil is light. It is indeed a rupestral species, or rock plant, occurring 

 where Hawkweeds of various kinds and Wall Lettuce, as well as heaths 

 and ericetal species, grow. 



It is a dwarf plant, with suberect stems, branching near the base, 

 and tufted. The leaves are linear-lance-shaped, narrow at the base, 

 wavy or sinuate, curled, crisped, hispid, stiffly hairy, numerous, the 

 radical leaves forming a rosette. The plant may be smooth or roughly 

 downy, with long stiff hairs. 



The blue flowers are small, in small heads, terminal, on the smaller 

 branches. The bracts are smooth or hairy, the inner narrower. The 

 petals meet below with narrow lobes. There are 5 anthers, oblong, 

 which meet below at the base, forming a tube, a feature which separates 

 it from the Scabious. The corolla is regular. 



The plant may be i-i:^ ft. in height. It is in bloom in July. 

 Sheep's Bit Scabious is annual, and propagated by seeds. 



Having 100-200 large blue florets, it is attractive to many insects, 

 and the plant is cross-pollinated simultaneously in the case of the main 

 stigmas. The honey is easily reached by insects, being secreted in the 

 upper part of the ovary. It is fully exposed, and surrounded by the flat 

 limb of the calyx. The corolla is cleft down to the base, where it meets 

 together into 5 narrow linear lobes, so that insects with short proboscis 

 can penetrate the tube. The stamens meet together at the base, form- 

 ing a ring round the style, and protect the honey from the rain, allowing 



