Knautia arvensis Field Scabious C DD N
This is a superb roadside or meadow plant, usually quite free flowering with, unusually for British plants, a large flower head quite suitable for a garden. It grows in grassy sites but probably prefers neutral or basic soils. You can see it almost anywhere even on untouched roadside verges in Great Britain and quite often on the rarely mown verges of motorways and major roads. The flowers are attractive to a wide variety of insects and just as I took this one (see expandable photo), a hover fly (I think) came to investigate.
Knautia arvensis is common throughout England but does become scarcer near the Scottish borders. It is only rarely seen in the highlands of Scotland but is common in eastern Wales and most of Ireland.
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Roadside, Hook Moor road junction, Yorkshire 23rd July 2004
Added on 5th November 2004, updated 16th February 2010, updated 13th April 2010, updated 29th May 2013