Bedstraws, Valerian and Scabious 277surely have been scabies (hence ‘scabious’), too. If devil’s-bit also has an
aspirin-like effect, that could explain its use for rheumatism in the Isle of
Man^121 and for toothache in the Highlands,^122 afflictions which were per-
haps among the ‘all manner of ailments’ this plant is said to have been
employed against in Cornwall.^123
Succisa pratensis, devil’s-bit scabious (Fuchs 1543, fig. 408)