Scabiosa incisa with its large mauve or white flowers must
be one of South Africa's prettiest indigenous perennials. Growing
in small clumps, the flowerheads stand above the foliage, gently
moving with the slightest breeze. On warm summer days, butterflies
are often seen on the flowers, for Scabiosa is one of their
favourite nectar plants.
fast-growing perennial, it forms a number of stems on the ground,
which turn slightly woody with age at the base. The finely divided
leaves form opposite each other along the lower part of the stems.
The older leaves at the bottom of the stem turn brown and fall off
as new fresh green leaves are formed. The soft leaves are slightly
hairy at the top and bottom. The beautiful flowers are formed on
long, naked stems from early spring to the middle of summer (September-December).
The straggling stems vary in height but can stand up to 430 mm high
with a single flowerhead at the tip. A closer look at a e flower
reveals individual flowers that are crowded together to form dense,
flattened flowerheads. The looser flowers along the outside have
longer petals that form a frilly edge, whereas the flowers in the
centre are much smaller and compact to form a tight button effect.
After flowering, the seeds are formed in interesting rounded bristleheads,
that slowly fall apart as the seeds ripen and are ready to be blown
away by the wind.
Scabiosa incisa occurs naturally in the coastal sands from
Piketberg to Grahamstown. The best-known locality for Scabiosa
incisa is at Bokbaai, a farm along the West Coast, from where
one has the most beautiful views of Table Mountain across the bay.
Here S. incisa grows in deep sands between the coastal scrub.
The winter rainfall along this part of the coast is between 50-300
mm a year. S. incisa from Bokbaai is a particularly big form
with large, mauve flowers. A number of other beautiful forms are
grown at Kirstenbosch. Scabiosa incisa 'White Carpet' has
a smaller white flower which in early summer form a cloud of white
above a lush carpet of tight green foliage.
Scabiosa incisa has been known and grown in Europe for a
long time. Philip Miller (1691-1771), the head of the Chelsea Physic
Garden, described S. incisa in 1768 in the Gardeners Dictionary
with the species name incisa, which refers to the deeply incised
leaves. The genus name Scabiosa comes from the Latin word
scabius referring to scabies, an itching skin disease these
plants were said to cure.
Dipsacaceae or scabious family is found in Africa and Asia, but
is most abundant in the Mediterranean region. There are 11 genera
and 290 species. Two genera are indigenous to southern Africa, Cephalaria
and Scabiosa. In South Africa there are nine species of Scabiosa;
in total there are 100 species distributed from Africa to Asia.
Scabiosa africana is another
species often seen in gardens.
In South Africa the widely distributed Scabiosa columbaria
(or rice flower) is the wild scabious most commonly used as a traditional
medicine by different African tribes, but S. incisa is also
used to make a dusting powder and wound lotion. It is, however,
mostly valued as a good cut flower and beautiful garden plant.
Growing Scabiosa incisa
Scabiosa incisa is easy to grow and most rewarding, with
an abundance of flowers, flowering non-stop from spring to the middle
of summer. S. incisa responds well to cultivation, with its main
requirement being full sun and well-drained soil. It can survive
with very little water during the summer but will produce much lusher
growth with a compost mulch and occasional good watering. S. incisa
is usually planted in groups to edge the front of beds.
The combinations for Scabiosa with other plants are limitless,
for it can be used with spring annuals, summer perennials or in
a fynbos bed as a fast-growing groundcover and colour filler. Simple
combinations where restios like Chondropetalum
tectorum (thatching reed) form the structure and S. incisa
the soft, colourful interest, can be very striking. In a perennial
border S. incisa, combined with Vernonia
multisectum, Agapanthus and Orthosiphon
labiatus, forms a lovely show for summer. S. incisa
can also be planted with succulents-a striking combination often
planted at Kirstenbosch is S. incisa with the grey leaf form
of Cotyledon orbiculatum (pig's ears).
Scabiosa incisa can be propagated from seed or cuttings.
At Kirstenbosch most of the new plants are propagated from cuttings.
The main plantings are done in autumn and winter to give the plants
time to establish before flowering starts in spring. S. incisa has
no serious pests. Occasionally plants may get plant lice but it
is not necessary to spray, for very little damage is done. To keep
the plants vigorous they should be pruned back to encourage new
- Batten, A. 1986. Blomme van Suider Africa. Franzen Publishers,
- Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds). 2003. Plants of southern
Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14. National
Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
- Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 1996. West Coast. South
African Wild Flower Guide 7. Botanical Society of South Africa,
- Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 2000. Cape plants. A conspectus
of the Cape flora of South Africa. Strelitzia 9. National
Botanical Institute, Cape Town.
- Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. 2000. Wildflowers of the
fairest Cape. ABC Press, Cape Town.
- Mason, H. 1972. Western Cape sandveld flowers. Struik,
- Reid, J. 2000. Butterfly gardening in South Africa. Briza
- Riley, H. 1963. Families of flowering plants of southern
Africa. University of Kentucky Press, Kentucky.
- Roberts, M. 1992. Indigenous healing plants. Southern
Book Publishers, Halfway House.
Liesl van der Walt
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden