Scabiosa atropurpurea

Erect herb to c. 1 m tall; stems striate or ribbed, with sparse appressed hairs. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaves oblanceolate-spathulate, to 12 cm long and 3 cm wide, margins entire or toothed, long-petiolate; cauline leaves smaller, deeply pinnatifid, sessile. Heads terminal, subglobose in flower, ovoid in fruit, 1–3 cm long, c. 1 cm diam.; involucral bracts linear, 5–20 mm long, leafy; receptacle bracts linear-lanceolate, not pungent. Corolla 8–22 mm long, white to dark purplish, lobes 1–5 mm long. Cypselas narrow-ellipsoid, 8-ribbed in lower part, enclosed in epicalyx. Flowers mainly spring and summer (sporadically throughout the year).