Scabiosa columbariaL.

dove pincushionslesser scabiouspigeon scabioussmall scabious

WFO wfo-0000500277 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Justin Ponder
fig. a Justin Ponder, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-04 / obs. 203847232
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Di Turner
fig. b Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194325685
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Shaun Swanepoel
fig. c Shaun Swanepoel, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193165876
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Di Turner
fig. d Di Turner, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195282616
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Nicola van Berkel
fig. e Nicola van Berkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 194463889
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Matthew Fainman
fig. f Matthew Fainman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 173890949
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan
fig. g Suvarna Parbhoo Mohan, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 172553505
Scabiosa columbaria, photographed by Peter Warren
fig. h Peter Warren, CC0 1.0 / obs. 168482574

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 45 botanical countries

Regions where Scabiosa columbaria is native: Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Tanzania, Uganda, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Saudi Arabia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Yemen, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AlgeriaAngolaCameroonCongoEritreaEthiopiaKenyaMoroccoTanzaniaUgandaIranLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusSaudi ArabiaTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanYemenAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine
Native distribution of Scabiosa columbaria, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Cameroon CMN
Congo CON
Eritrea ERI
Ethiopia ETH
Kenya KEN
Morocco MOR
Tanzania TAN
Uganda UGA
Iran IRN ASIA-TEMPERATE
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Saudi Arabia SAU
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Yemen YEM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 327 in flower of 349 examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Scabiosa columbaria observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 327 of 349 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 48 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Asterocephalus amoenus Spreng.
  • Asterocephalus bannaticus (Waldst. & Kit.) Spreng.
  • Asterocephalus columbaria (L.) Wallr.
  • Asterocephalus mollissimus Spreng.
  • Asterocephalus pumilus Spreng.
  • Asterocephalus pyrenaicus Sweet
  • Columbaria minor Gray
  • Columbaria patens Fourr.
  • Columbaria rubella Opiz ex Steud.
  • Columbaria vulgaris J.Presl & C.Presl
  • Knautia diversifolia (Spreng.) DC.
  • Pentena banatica (Waldst. & Kit.) Raf.
  • Scabiosa acaulis Thunb.
  • Scabiosa amoena J.Jacq.
  • Scabiosa balbini Sennen & Elías
  • Scabiosa banatica Waldst. & Kit.
  • Scabiosa brigantiaca Jord.
  • Scabiosa caerulea Gueldenst.
  • Scabiosa caesaraugustana Echeand.
  • Scabiosa commutata Roem. & Schult.
  • Scabiosa diversifolia Baumg.
  • Scabiosa dubia Velen.
  • Scabiosa grisea (Sommier & Levier) Grossh.
  • Scabiosa hyrcanica Steven

and 24 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.