SCABIO'SA ATROPURPU'REA. 
SWEET SCABIOUS. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
DI PSACEiE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
E. Indies. 
3 feet. 
July, Sept. 
Biennial. 
in 1629. 
No. 119. 
Though the name of the present genus is not of 
great antiquity, it is rather uncertain from what it 
originated. Some of the species are said to have 
been formerly held in esteem for their virtues in the 
cure of cutaneous dieases; and that Scabiosa was 
therefore derived from scabies. Others say, that as 
roughness is characteristic of the tribe, it was de- 
rived from scaber, rough. Atropurpurea, from the 
Latin ater, dark ; and purpurea, purple. 
From the fine deep colour of its star-studded 
flowers, and the sweet musky odour with which they 
abound, it cannot be surprising that it is very well 
known. It sometimes sports into variegated and 
delicate colours, and also becomes proliferous, as the 
Hen-and-chicken daisy, varieties which render it 
not the less pleasing. * 
Authors are not agreed respecting the country 
whence it was first brought to England, though there 
is little doubt but that it is a native of some of the 
southern parts of Europe. 
If its seeds be sown as late as the end of May, the 
plants will stand better than if raised earlier, and 
will blossom strongly in the following summer. 
Hort. Kcw. 2, v. 1, 228. 
Class. 
TBTRANDRIA. 
