Sheep's bit
Jasione montana
Family · Campanulaceae · Harmless
The pale blue pincushion head that fills sandy banks and schist slopes in summer. It looks like a scabious and is a bellflower relative, which becomes clear when you look closely at a single floret.
Uplands · Scrubland · Pine woods · Dunes and sand
Also known assheep's scabious, blue bonnets
How to tell it
A round head of pale blue flowers, each with five very narrow petals split to the base, and stamens forming a tube in the middle. Narrow, wavy, rough leaves, mostly at the base. A bare stalk at the top.
What it is confused with
Sweet scabious
Sixalix atropurpurea
Both make pincushions. Scabious has larger, ray-like marginal florets and is much bigger; sheep's bit has all florets equal and a small compact head.
What it is for
No use
It is a good indicator of acid, sandy, poor soil, and one of the few blue flowers you find in a summer pine wood.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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