The heads of the plant were formerly in demand as well in ‘various parts
of England’^109 (and sold in London in Covent Garden market^110 ) as a certain
cure for the ague. Three, five or seven—note the magical odd numbers—of
the thin ‘worms’ found in these in the autumn were sealed up in a quill or a
bag and worn against the pit of the stomach or some other part of the person.
More mundane than those two uses was boiling the root and applying it to
abscesses (in Suffolk^111 ) or to warts (in Wiltshire^112 ). The absence of records
from Scotland or Ireland is noteworthy.
Knautia arvensis (Linnaeus) Coulter
Scabiosa arvensis Linnaeus
field scabious
Europe, western Siberia
Two records of the use of ‘scabious’ in Essex, as an infusion for rheumatism^113
and as a decoction sat over to cure piles,^114 seem more likely to belong to
Knautia arvensis than Succisa pratensis on distributional grounds.
Succisa pratensis Moench
Scabiosa succisa Linnaeus
devil’s-bit scabious
Europe, western Siberia, North Africa
A common plant of the acid soils of the west of the British Isles,Succisa
pratensis has been widely valued there for the properties of its root. At least
part of this use may have been magico-religious, for the peculiarly truncated
shape of the root is supposed to have suggested the notion that this was the
product of some malign influence (hence the vernacular name), for which
reason it was recommended for the scaly eruptions known as ‘devils’ bites’. It
was still in use precisely for those in the Rossendale Valley in south-eastern
Lancashire well into the nineteenth century,^115 doubtless by those who took
the herbals as gospel.
It is tempting to ascribe to that same superstition the reserving of this
plant in Somerset specifically for bites by dogs—but in fact it has a seem-
ingly well-founded reputation as an antiseptic. The wound caused by those
bites was bathed with water in which devil’s-bit had been steeped, then cov-
ered with the leaves to check the bleeding and initiate healing.^116 The plant
has accordingly been favoured for sores of all kinds, of which British exam-
ples include sore throats^117 and bruises^118 in the Isle of Man and, if the use for
scurvy reported from there is correctly interpreted, scorbutic sores in Shet-
land.^119 ‘The itch’, which this plant has relieved in the Highlands,^120 must
276 Dipsacus fullonum