Devil's-bit Scabious

Here's a scabious. Here's another scabious. What sort of scabious is this? 

It's a Devil's-bit Scabious, Succisa pratensis, of course! This is a particularly hairy one, but you can see the differences between this and yesterday's Small Scabious. (So I won't enumerate them.) It was growing a couple of metres away from yesterday's plant.

It's called Devil's bit because of the abrupt ending of the root, bitten off by the Devil for differing reasons depending on who you believe. In all stories the Devil was pissed off with the plant and trying to reduce it's vitality/ability to cure.

The Scabiouses are so-called because of the belief in their ability to cure scabies and other ailments affecting the skin.