SCABIOUS. . 157 



remarkable design : creation teems with such it is full of 

 miracles." 



There is a Wild Teasel (D. sylvestris), a less robust plant, 

 with less rigid prickles, but we have not met with it. 



The Smallest Teasel (D. pilosa), has pinnate leaves, or rather 

 two little leaflets at the base of the principal leaf. The flower 

 is white, and the head is roundish, not conical, like the larger 

 species. It grows in damp places about Frome, on the borders 

 of Somerset. 



The Scabious family is the second in the Teasel order. 



The Common Scabious has the corolla in four segments, the 

 flowers round the edge of the flat head being large. It is of a 

 lilac colour, and the leaves are pinnate and serrated. It grows 

 abundantly on the borders of fields, and in chalk or limestone 

 places. 



The Smaller Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria, jig. 11), is some- 

 what different ; its corolla is in five segments. The root-leaves 

 are ovate and notched, the stem-leaves narrow and pinnate. It 

 grows on the downs near "Warminster. 



I have the Devil's-bit Scabious (S. succisa). Both the 

 Blue and the White varieties grow in the hilly pastures in 

 Swaledale. The root is abrupt, and an old legend declares 

 that there was one portion of the root so healing in its powers 

 that it could cure all maladies ; and that the devil, enraged at 

 mankind possessing so great a blessing, bit the healing part off. 

 The head of the plant is round, and all the florets are of the 

 same size. 



