Scabiosa

Scabiosa is a genus in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae) of flowering plants. Many of the species in this genus have common names that include the word scabious, but some plants commonly known as scabious are currently classified in related genera such as Knautia and Succisa; at least some of these were formerly placed in Scabiosa. Another common name for members of this genus is pincushion flowers.
Etymology
The common name 'scabious' comes the Latin word scabiosus meaning 'mangy, rough or itchy' which refers to the herb's traditional usage as a folk medicine to treat scabies, an illness that causes a severe itching sensation.
Description
Some species of Scabiosa are annuals, others perennials. Some are herbaceous plants; others have woody rootstocks. The leaves of most species are somewhat hairy and partly divided into lobes, but a few are smooth and some species have simple leaves. The flowers are borne on inflorescences in the form of heads; each head contains many small florets, each floret cupped in a membranous, saucer-shaped bract. The calyx has five sepals in the form of awns almost as long as the petals. After the flowers have dropped, the calyces together with the bracts form a spiky ball that may be the reason for the "pincushion" common name. The calyx is persistent and remains as a crown on the fruit after it is shed. The corolla has four to five lobes fringing a narrow funnel with a furry throat, the funnel being somewhat longer than the lobes. The florets have four stamens each, set high in the tube, and sticking out. Each fruit has just one seed.
In a few species the heads are sessile but in most species they are borne singly on a tall peduncle.
Scabiosa species and varieties differ in the colours of their flowers, but most are soft lavender blue, lilac or creamy white.
Taxonomy
It was first published in Species Plantarum on page 98 in 1753.
Species
As accepted by Plants of the World Online;
Scabiosa adzharica
Scabiosa africana
Scabiosa albanensis
Scabiosa amoena
Scabiosa andryifolia
Scabiosa angustiloba
Scabiosa arenaria
Scabiosa atropurpurea
Scabiosa austroafricana
Scabiosa balcanica
Scabiosa × beauverdiana
Scabiosa bipinnata
Scabiosa buekiana
Scabiosa canescens
Scabiosa cartenniana
Scabiosa cephalarioides
Scabiosa cinerea
Scabiosa colchica
Scabiosa columbaria
Scabiosa comosa
Scabiosa correvoniana
Scabiosa corsica
Scabiosa crinita
Scabiosa daucoides
Scabiosa drakensbergensis
Scabiosa eremophila
Scabiosa farinosa
Scabiosa fumarioides
Scabiosa galianoi
Scabiosa holosericea
Scabiosa imeretica
Scabiosa incisa
Scabiosa ispartaca
Scabiosa japonica
Scabiosa jezoensis
Scabiosa lacerifolia
Scabiosa lachnophylla
Scabiosa libyca
Scabiosa lucida
Scabiosa × lucidula
Scabiosa mollissima
Scabiosa nitens
Scabiosa ochroleuca
Scabiosa owerinii
Scabiosa paphlagonica
Scabiosa parielii
Scabiosa parviflora
Scabiosa praemontana
Scabiosa pyrenaica
Scabiosa semipapposa
Scabiosa silenifolia
Scabiosa sirnakia
Scabiosa sivrihisarica
Scabiosa solymica
Scabiosa sosnowskyi
Scabiosa taygetea
Scabiosa tenuis
Scabiosa thysdrusiana
Scabiosa transvaalensis
Scabiosa triandra
Scabiosa triniifolia
Scabiosa turolensis
Scabiosa tuzluca
Scabiosa tysonii
Scabiosa velenovskiana
Scabiosa vestina
Scabiosa webbiana
Distribution
Members of this genus are native to Africa, Europe and Asia. Some species of Scabiosa, notably small scabious (S. columbaria) and Mediterranean sweet scabious (S. atropurpurea) have been developed into cultivars for gardeners.
In 1782, a mysterious pale yellow scabious, called Scabiosa trenta, was described by Belsazar Hacquet, an Austrian physician, botanist, and mountaineer, in his work Plantae alpinae Carniolicae. It became a great source of inspiration for later botanists and mountaineers discovering the Julian Alps, especially Julius Kugy. The Austrian botanist Anton Kerner von Marilaun later proved Belsazar Hacquet had not found a new species, but a specimen of the already known submediterranean Cephalaria leucantha.
They are found in various habitats such as Scabiosa solymica (formerly named Lomelosia solymica), which is a chasmophyte (a plant adapted to growing in crevices or hollows) of montane, sea facing cliffs of the Tahtalı Dağı (mountain) in the western Taurus Mountains, south of Antalya, Turkey.
Ecology
Scabious flowers are nectar rich and attractive to many insects including butterflies and moths such as the six-spot burnet. Scabiosa species are food plants for the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera such as the grey pug moth.
References
Caprifoliaceae genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus