Devil’s-bit scabious
Morsus diaboli, “the Devil’s bite”
- Known today as
- Succisa pratensis. A blue-violet wildflower of damp meadows, known by its short, blunt-ended root.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- saponins, tannins, scabioside
- Earliest authority here
- Culpeper (1616–1654)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Version 1, first published September 27, 2026.
Devil’s-bit scabious: what was it used for?
Culpeper, who called it Morsus diaboli, recommended it bruised and applied for swollen tonsils and sores of the mouth; it was also used against scabies.
Devil’s-bit scabious: what does modern science say?
No controlled evidence supports its traditional uses; it survives today chiefly as the food plant of the marsh fritillary butterfly.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- saponins
- tannins
- scabiosidean iridoid
- Mechanism
- A mild astringent and expectorant; nothing in it bears out the plague and poison uses, and the root bitten off by the devil is a rhizome that rots from the end.
- Toxic dose
- No toxicity recorded.
- Standing
- No monograph; a plant of the herbals.
- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Scabious, Devil’s Bit.” Book, seen in reviews
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Devil’s-bit scabious: what lore surrounds it?
Its name comes from the abruptly cut-off root, said to have been bitten away by the Devil out of spite at the plant’s usefulness to mankind, leaving it stunted forever.
Devil’s-bit scabious: what did the older authorities say?
- Culpeper
- Explains the name from the root, “somewhat thick, but short and blackish,” which “was longer, until the devil (as the friars say) bit away the rest of it for spite, envying its usefulness to mankind; for sure he was not troubled with any disease for which it is proper.” The plant “is venereal, pleasing, and harmless.” The herb or root, “all that the devil hath left of it,” boiled in wine “is very powerful against the plague, and all pestilential diseases or fevers, poisons also, and the bitings of venemous beasts,” dissolves clotted blood from bruises, and beaten and applied “takes away the black and blue marks that remain in the skin.”
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Succisa pratensis.” Book, not indexed
- Culpeper, N. (1653). The Complete Herbal, “Devil’s-Bit.” Project Gutenberg #49513. Primary text
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Sources
- 3 cited: 1 primary text, 1 book, seen in reviews, 1 book, not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 27, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026
- Chicago
“Devil’s-bit scabious.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/devils-bit-scabious.
- MLA
“Devil’s-bit scabious.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/devils-bit-scabious. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Devil’s-bit scabious. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/devils-bit-scabious
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See Also
Sharing saponins, tannins
Eryngium maritimum · Dipsacus fullonum · Impatiens capensis · Ficaria verna · Diascordium · Potentilla reptans · Euphrasia officinalis · Bistorta officinalis
Also in Nicholas Culpeper
Endive in Nicholas Culpeper · Crabs’ eyes in Nicholas Culpeper · Cowslip in Nicholas Culpeper · everything Nicholas Culpeper names →
Drawing on the same sources: Wikipedia, Culpeper, Grieve
Diacatholicon · Destroying angel · Diamoschu, sweet · Dandelion · Dragon’s blood · Elder · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Death cap (white-gilled mushroom of oak and beech woods, now spread worldwide) · Diaphenicon (with turpeth, scammony, and spices) · Deadly webcap · Deadly nightshade (of the nightshade family)
Historical description, not medical advice.