FoI
Showy Scabious
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Showy Scabious
ative Photo: Suresh Rana
Common name: Showy Scabious
Botanical name: Lomelosia speciosa    Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)
Synonyms: Scabiosa speciosa

Showy Scabious is a handsome perennial herb with large mauve flower-heads 2-3 cm across, sometime up to 5 cm, with the outer spreading florets much larger than the inner erect florets. Involucral bracts are lanceshaped, densely hairy. Outer florets are 3-lobed, 2-3 cm. The inner florets are shorter. Leaves are broadly lanceshaped to inverted-lanceshaped, toothed or entire, 3-7 cm long, some with narrow lobes at the base. Stems are clustered, leafy at base, 30-50 cm. The fruit is crowned with the persistent papery limb, and longer calyx-bristles. Showy Scabious is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to Uttarakhand, at altitudes of 2400-3500. Flowering: July-September.

Identification credit: Suresh Rana Photographed in Paddar Valley, Jammu & Kashmir.

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