TEAZLE FA^^ILY 



24S 



2. ScABinsA (Scabious). — Leaves entire or : pinnatilid ; heads 

 hemisplierical or flat ; involucre of i or 2 wliorls of bracts ; rnmiunn 

 receptacle scaly ; iiivolucel S-anglecl, 4 - 5-lobed.; outer florets often 

 larger and unsymmetrical ; calyx-lube contracted at the top ; liiiih 

 cup-shaped, with 4 — 5 stiff persistent bristles ; corolla 4 — 5-lobed, 

 sometimes bilabiate; jruit nearly cylindrical. (Xanu: from the 

 Latin scabies, the leprosy, for which disease sorne of the species 

 were supposed to be a remedy.) 



1. S- Succisa (Fremorse 

 or Devil's-bit Scabious). — 

 A slender, little-branched 

 plant, with a short and 

 abrupt rhizome, as if bitten 

 off (premorse) ; a hairy 

 stem ; few, mostly entire, 

 oblong leaves ; nearly glo- 

 bose heads of purplish-blue 

 or white flowers, with a 

 nearly symmetric, 4-cleft 

 corolla. — Heaths and pas- 

 tures : abundant. John 

 Parkinson, in his " Thea- 

 trum Botanicum " (1640), 

 alludes to the fable " that 

 the Lie vile, envying the 

 good that this herbe might 

 do to mankinde, bit away 

 parte of the roote, and 

 thereof came the name 

 Succisa, Devil's-bit." — Fl, 

 Tuly — October. Peren- 

 nial. 



2. 5. Columbd-ia (Small 

 Scabious). — Well distin- 

 guished from the last by 

 its pinnatifid, lighter green 

 leaves ; heads flatter at first ; 



and flowers lilac, rather than purple, with a 5-clelt corolla, the 

 outer ones being larger and very unsvmmetrical. — Pastures, 

 especialh' on a calcareous soil ; not uncoiiuiion. — Fl. Jul_\" — 

 September. Perennial. 



3. .S. inariluna, a species with all its leaves pinnatifid, an erect 

 branching panicle of heads, and a 5-cleft corolla, has been found 

 at St. Ouen's Bay, Jersey. 



'^CAPl6s.\ COLUMB.^RI.V {Sn^all .^ca^'WuA 



