# Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis)

**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

## 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.

## 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 and toxicology

- **saponins**: 
- **tannins**: 
- **scabioside**: an 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.

**Dose.** No toxicity recorded.

**Standing.** No monograph; a plant of the herbals.

## 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.

## 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*.”
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *The Complete Herbal*, “Devil’s-Bit.” Project Gutenberg #49513.
- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*, “Scabious, Devil’s Bit.”

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*Devil’s-bit scabious.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/devils-bit-scabious

Historical description, not medical advice.