I first remember noticing pincushion flower (also called scabious, honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae) on a hike on the coast of Italy. What a pretty flower!
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| scabious, Scabiosa or Krautia, in Italy |
Scabious is used as the common name of a group of related plants. Some are classified in the genus Scabiosa (about 70 species), some in the genera Knautia (55 species) and others in Succisa (3 species). They all have flowerheads made of dozens of tiny florets. Most have pink or lavender flowers but the they range over to rich deep reds. They are native across Eurasia but not to North America. In some places in the United States, though, they have escaped from gardens and naturalized.