different between scarious vs scabious

English

Alternative forms

• scariose

Etymology

French scarieux. Compare scary.

Adjective

scarious (comparative more scarious, superlative most scarious)

1. (botany) thin, dry, membranous, and not green
2. thin, dry, membranous
3. (zoology) scaly, scurfy

Synonyms

• (scaly): squamous; see also Thesaurus:scaly
• (scurfy): scruffy; see also Thesaurus:scabby

English

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

scabious (comparative more scabious, superlative most scabious)

1. having scabs
2. of or pertaining to scabies

Etymology 2

These plants were once used to treat scabies.

Noun

scabious (plural scabiouses)

1. Any of various herbaceous plants of the genus Scabiosa.
   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, XII [Uniform ed., p. 128]:

     The grassy track, so gay with scabious and bedstraw, was snow-white at the bottom of its ruts.

Derived terms

• sweet scabious (Sixalix atropurpurea, syn. Scabiosa atropurpurea)