THE 

 FIELD SCABIOUS. 



Knautia arvensis. Nat. Ord., 

 DipsacacecK. 



EVERAL species of scabious 

 are more or less abundant 

 almost everywhere; some, 

 as the field scabious, our 

 present plant, are more 

 especially at home in corn- 

 fields and meadows, while 

 not a few are herbs of 

 cultivation, and grace the 

 garden by their beautiful forms 

 and tints. The Scabiosa succisa, 

 or deviFs-bit scabious, finds a place 

 in our series, and has already 

 been described at length : it is 

 a plant of the open meadows and 

 commons. The S. Columbaria, or 

 small scabious, is not so common a 



species. Its flowers are of a pale purplish blue, and 

 should be searched for in pasture-lands and waste ground. 



The species we have here figured is abundant through- 

 out Britain, though we occasionally find districts where 

 it does not occur; and it seems, so far as our experience 

 goes, to flourish best on the chalk. It should be looked 

 for in meadows, in the tangled mass of floral beauty that 

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