Devil's-bit scabious
A late-flowering perennial of damp meadow and heath, and one of the most valuable autumn nectar plants in northern Europe. It flowers from August into October when the season is closing, and it is the sole larval food plant of the marsh fritillary butterfly, which makes it a keystone plant well beyond its value to bees.
Value to bees
- Nectar
- Very high
- Pollen
- High
- As a honey crop
- Not a honey source
- Which bees, and why
- Heavily worked by late-season bumblebees, including the scarce carder bees whose colonies run latest and which most need forage in September. It is also visited by butterflies in numbers.
- Worth knowing
- An outstanding late-season nectar and pollen source, at a point in the year when replacements are few.
Flowering
- In flower
- July to October (northern hemisphere)
One of the latest meadow flowers, frequently the last substantial nectar source of the year in damp grassland.
Growing it
- Conditions
- Damp to moist soil in sun or light shade, and tolerant of both acid and neutral conditions. It dislikes drought and rich fertile ground.
- Size
- 30-80 cm tall.
- Native range
- Europe, western Asia and North Africa, in damp meadow, marsh, fen, heath and woodland ride.
- Suits
- Meadow or wildflower area, Large gardens, Small gardens
- Needs moisture — it fails on dry soil, unlike the other scabious species.
- Leave uncut until October so the late nectar is available when it matters most.
- Long-lived once established and slow to build up, so give it time.
What it looks like
Rounded, domed, deep violet-blue pincushion heads about 2 cm across on wiry stems, above unlobed dark green leaves — the entire leaves separate it from the divided-leaved scabious species. The root is abruptly truncated, which folklore attributed to the devil biting it off.
Sources
- Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
- Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide
How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.
Guides covering this plant
- How to make a garden genuinely useful to beesMost bee-friendly advice covers flowers in June, which is the one thing bees are least short of. The gaps are at the ends of the year — and half the problem is not flowers at all.
- The best flowers for beesHerbaceous flowers rather than trees and shrubs, chosen for output and length of season. Most of them are things you can grow in a border or a container.
- Autumn plants for beesAutumn forage decides how well colonies enter winter. It is also when one plant does more work than everything else combined, and most people regard it as a nuisance.
- Making a wildflower area for beesA meadow is made by reducing fertility and weakening grass, not by scattering seed on a lawn. The single most useful plant in the process is a parasite.
- A bee-friendly garden in Britain and IrelandAround 270 bee species, one honey bee among them, and a climate that gives you flowering months at both ends of the year that most of the world does not get. The British gaps are February and late June, and both are fixable.
Tools for planning planting
- Flowering calendar
What should I plant so that something is always in flower for bees?
- Bee-friendly garden planner
What should I plant in the space I actually have?
- Plant recommendation tool
Which plant fills this specific gap?