Succisia pratensis Greene Asteraceae. Devil’s Bit Scabious, Blue Buttons. Distribution: Europe, W Asia, Africa. Culpeper (1650), under ‘Herbs’ he writes: ‘Succisa, Morsus diobolo, Devil’s Bit. Inwardly taken it easeth the fits of the mother [probably uterine spasm or pain], and breaks wind, taketh away the swellings in the mouth, and slimy phlegm that sticks to the jaws, neither is there a more present remedy in the world, for those cold swellings of the neck, which the vulgar call the Almonds [lymph nodes] of the neck than this herb bruised and applied to them. Folk lore attribute it as a cure-all which was so successful that the Devil bit off the bottom of the roots when he saw it growing down into Hades. However, the roots show no sign of such damage to support the myth. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
- Dr Henry Oakeley
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: Succisia pratensis Greene Asteraceae. Devil’s Bit Scabious, Blue Buttons. Distribution: Europe, W Asia, Africa. Culpeper (1650), under ‘Herbs’ he writes: ‘Succisa, Morsus diobolo, Devil’s Bit. Inwardly taken it easeth the fits of the mother [probably uterine spasm or pain], and breaks wind, taketh away the swellings in the mouth, and slimy phlegm that sticks to the jaws, neither is there a more present remedy in the world, for those cold swellings of the neck, which the vulgar call the Almonds [lymph nodes] of the neck than this herb bruised and applied to them. Folk lore attribute it as a cure-all which was so successful that the Devil bit off the bottom of the roots when he saw it growing down into Hades. However, the roots show no sign of such damage to support the myth. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London. Dr Henry Oakeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.
