Nigella

Plant Characteristics
Habit		herbaceous
Height:	⇕	20 cm"cm" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 20. to 90 cm"cm" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 90.
Lifespan:	⌛	annual

Cultivation

Features:	✓	flowers, edible

Scientific Names
Ranunculaceae >	Nigella >

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Nigella is a genus of about 14 species of annual plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to southern Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia. Common names applied to members of this genus are Devil-in-a-bush or Love in a mist.

The species grow to 20-90 cm tall, with finely divided leaves, the leaf segments narrowly linear to threadlike. The flowers are white, yellow, pink, pale blue or pale purple, with 5-10 petals. The fruit is a capsule composed of several united follicles, each containing numerous seeds; in some species (e.g. Nigella damascena), the capsule is large and inflated.

Several species are grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Nigella damascena has been grown in English cottage gardens since Elizabethan times, commonly called Love-In-A-Mist. Nigella hispanica is a taller species with larger blue flowers, red stamens, and grey leaves. Nigella seeds are self-sowing if the seed pods are left to mature.

Read about Nigella in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
Nigella (diminutive of niger, black; referring to the color of the seeds). Ranunculaceae. Love-in-a Mist. Devil-in-a-bush. Fennel-flower. Hardy annuals grown for their interesting flowers and seed- pods which are often surrounded by the much-divided involucre. Stems erect: Lvs. finely divided, alternate: fls. showy, white, blue or yellow; sepals 5, regular, petal-like, deciduous; petals 5, with hollow claws, notched or 2-lobed: carpels 3-10, fusing at the base into 1 cavity, cells opening at the top when mature; seeds many, black and hard. —About 12 species, including Garidella; mostly natives of the Medit. region. Following 3 are the only species now used in Amer. Nigellas require little care. The seed should be sown in the open border in good soil any time after the land is fit to work in early spring, as the plants are entirely hardy. The seedlings should be thinned, if necessary, to a distance of about 8 inches. They seldom succeed well if transplanted. If the seeds are sown in early autumn, the plants may withstand a mild winter and be ready to flower earlier the next summer. By planting at different seasons the plants may be continued in beauty nearly throughout the summer. The seeds of N. saliva, Linn., or black cummin, are sometimes used as seasoning in the Old World. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.