Habit: Annual to perennial herb, unarmed.
Stem: erect, < 6 dm, branched, glabrous or hairy.
Leaf: generally < 1 dm, pinnately lobed or dissected.
Inflorescence: +- spheric; outermost flowers generally larger; peduncle often long; involucre bracts +- equal, lanceolate, flexible; involucel tubular, 8-ribbed, with expanded, fan-like, many-veined limb or not.
Flower: calyx limb divided into 5 bristles; corolla generally blue, purple, pink, or white, lobes 5, upper 2 smaller; stamens 4(2).
Fruit: +- angled, generally hairy.
Species In Genus: +- 80 species: temperate Eurasia, Africa.
Etymology: (Latin: itch, from medicinal use)
Jepson eFlora Author: Charles D. Bell & Elizabeth McClintock
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Scabiosa
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