Scabiosa caucasica
ζ*S. caucasica M. Bieb. ζ*, perennial scabious, is known from only one collection (CHR 216743, Taita, Hutt Valley, Druce, Jan. 1970). An ascending perennial, glabrescent or sparsely hairy. Lower lvs petiolate, lanceolate, entire, persisting at flowering and fruiting; upper lvs 1-pinnatisect, the uppermost with linear lobes. Heads 4-10 cm diam. Fls pale to deep lavender-blue. Fr. with 8 pits in involucel-tube; corona 1.5-2 mm long, much < tube, with c. 25 veins; calyx setae c. 5 mm long. This sp. is commonly cultivated. It is easily distinguished from other naturalised scabious by the pitted frs (Fig. 56) and the lanceolate, entire basal lvs. It has been previously recorded for N.Z. as S. stellata (Given 1979); the specimen referred to has the 8-pitted fr. and short corona of S. caucasica, characters which place it in a separate section of the genus from S. stellata which is not known wild or cultivated in N.Z. (N. Iran, Caucasia, C. and N. Russia, 1979).
