Succisa Pratensis Dwarf Form

This dwarf form of devil's-bit scabious retains the species' rounded blue-purple pincushion flowers on shorter, more compact stems. The neat basal rosette suits meadow edges, containers and small wildlife gardens where ordinary Succisa pratensis might be too tall. Flowering from summer into autumn, it is exceptionally valuable to bees and butterflies and is the principal larval food plant of the marsh fritillary. The curious common name comes from the abrupt black rootstock, once imagined to have been bitten off by the devil in anger at the plant's virtues.