Small Scabious Scabiosa columbaria




Scientific Name: Scabiosa columbaria (Dipsacaceae).


English Name: Small Scabious (Teazel family).


French Name: La Scabieuse colombaire (='the Columbarium scabious').


5 Key Characters:
  • upper leaves stalkless but divided into fine lobes.
  • individual florets have 5 unequal lobes
  • fine slender plant.
  • rosette leaves long-stalked with teeth.
  • outer florets much larger than ones in the middle.

Lookalikes: Field Scabious Knautia arvensis, which is altogether coarser and more robust, with bigger flower heads and florets with 4 unequal lobes.


Habitat: Calcareous grasslands.


Flowering Period: July-August-September.


Status: Localised. Nowhere near as abundant as Field Scabious.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

The upper leaves have linear lobes, including tip leaflet.

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