Sheep's bit scabious, Botón azul

Sheep's bit scabious is a low/short biennial, slightly hairy, plant growing up to one foot tall with suberect stems that branch near the base. The leaves are narrow oblong, untooth but sometimes wavy, the upper unstalked. No dead leaves at the base. The small violet-blue flowers are in small globular heads. The bracts are smooth or hairy and the petals have narrow lobes. There are 5 oblong anthers which unite at the base forming a tube, a feature that differentiates this plant from true Scabious. The individual florets open successively. The anthers ripen first and later the styles elongate and the two-lobed stigmas are displayed. This make self-pollination less likely. There are nectaries in the upper part of the ovaries and many insects visit the flowers. Some fifty species of bees and wasps, thirty species of fly, thirty species of butterflies and moths and several beetles have been recorded as visiting the flowers. The flowers are visible under ultraviolet light and it is believed that this makes them attractive to pollinating insects. They do not show a traditional bull's-eye pattern to guide the insect but the ultraviolet reflectance of the petals is very high.