It’s Flower Friday around here and we’ve got a never before featured flower for you this time! Today we’re going to feature a somewhat lesser known flower called Scabiosa!
The seemingly abrasive name for this flower is rooted in its etymology. Scabiosa is rooted in the Latin word scabiosus, which basically translates to rough or itchy. Unlike many flower names, this flower’s name comes from its historic traditional medicinal use of treating scabies, a disease characterized by severe itching. This association likely resulted in this flower’s more popular modern name, pincushion flowers.
The genus of scabiosa is part of the Caprifoliaceae family. This family is likely unknowingly familiar to you and in modern days, we more often call it a honeysuckle. This family is comprised of 158 different genus, all characterized by their tubular looking flowers. Scabiosa features a rather large number of species, with over 600 different known types. They are native to Asia, Europe and Africa, but can be grown as annuals even in places like the subarctic.
With a name like honeysuckle, you’d be correct in assuming the flower in rich in nectar and is a popular flower among butterflies and even some types of moth. They can act as a food source and thus are excellent flowers to grow if you’re trying to attract butterflies into your gardens. It’s also popular among bees, too, providing a vital source of nectar that is foundational in the creation of honey. Both pollen and nectar are important to provide when attracting bees, so scabiosa is a great choice if you’re trying to counter your current pollen supply.
With such a large number of scabiosa species, the potential medicinal uses gets very much “in the weeds” and comes down to specific species. That said, scabiosa is considerably bioactive and holds a ton of potential for pharmacological and natural medicine uses. Most notably, scabiosa are very rich in secondary metabolites, which are a rather common source of modern pharmacology.
Tibetan and Mongolian traditional medicine recognized scabiosa for its ability to treat liver disease. Interestingly, modern scientific study have confirmed these hepatoprotective characteristics, basically meaning it produces chemical substances that protect the liver. These studies have also shown anti-hyperglycemic properties, indicating it could have usefulness for diabetes and other glycemic dysregulation. Given scabiosa’s significant production of metabolites, there’s a lot of potential for anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity given further research.
Scabiosa isn’t particularly well known for its use in culinary applications. While they are not known to be toxic, they also don’t hold much significance in modern or even historic culinary uses. That said, it’s a more than welcome inclusion for a vase at the dinner table.
For the florist, pincushions are an excellent cut flower that provide a really nice visual in any kind of floral arrangement. When mature, many scabiosa species will produce an attractive and ever-lasting seed pod that is a great choice for dried flower arts. Since this is our first year growing scabiosa, we’re not yet certain if full maturity is achievable in the subarctic.
We’ve really enjoyed seeing this flower come in, it immediately caught our attention once it started flowering in mid July. We’re definitely excited to experiment more with scabiosa and there are some rather impressive species out there. It definitely has our attention and we’ll be growing it again in future seasons!
