''Nigella damascena'', love-in-a-mist, or devil in the bush, is an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

garden

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

, belonging to the buttercup

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Ranunculaceae Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide. The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...

. It is

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to southern Europe (but adventive in more northern countries of Europe), north Africa and southwest Asia, where it is found on neglected, damp patches of land. The specific epithet ''damascena'' relates to Damascus in Syria. The plant's common name "love-in-a-mist" comes from the flower being nestled in a ring of multifid, lacy bracts.

Description

It grows to tall, with pinnately divided, thread-like, alternate leaves. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s, blooming in early summer, are most commonly different shades of blue, but can be white, pink, or pale purple, with 5 to 25

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s. The actual petals are located at the base of the stamens and are minute and clawed. The sepals are the only colored part of the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla ( petals) or tepals when ...

. The four to five

carpel Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...

s of the compound pistil have each an erect

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a large and inflated capsule, growing from a compound ovary, and is composed of several united follicles, each containing numerous

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s. This is rather exceptional for a member of the buttercup family. The capsule becomes brown in late summer. The plant self-seeds, growing on the same spot year after year. File:Jungfer im Grünen.JPG, Double form File:Jungfer im Grünen (Nigella damascena) Samenkapseln-20220613-RM-175240.jpg, Seed capsule File:Nigella damascena MHNT.BOT.2007.40.38.jpg, Dried seed-heads with seeds File:N.damascena-seeds-1.jpg, Seeds File:Nigella damascena Dark Blue.jpg

Cultivation

This easily grown plant has been a familiar subject in English

cottage garden The cottage garden is a distinct style that uses informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than grandeur and formal structure. Ho ...

s since Elizabethan times, admired for its ferny foliage, spiky flowers and bulbous seed-heads. It is now widely cultivated throughout the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

world, and numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use. 'Persian Jewels' is a mixture of white, pink, lavender and blue flowers. 'Persian Rose' is pale pink. Other

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s are 'Albion', 'Blue Midget', 'Cambridge Blue', 'Mulberry Rose', and 'Oxford Blue'. 'Dwarf Moody Blue' is around high. The pale blue ‘Miss Jekyll’ and the double white-flowered 'Miss Jekyll Alba' have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit.

Related species

The related ''

Nigella sativa ''Nigella sativa'' (black caraway, also known as black cumin, nigella, kalonji or siyahdaneh) is an annual flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania) and Western Asia (Cyprus, Turkey, Iran and Ir ...

'' (and not ''N. damascena'') is the source of the spice variously known as nigella, ''kalonji'' or black cumin.

Alkaloids

Damascenine is a toxic

alkaloid Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar ...

found in ''Nigella damascena'' seed. However, an in vivo study in mice and in vitro assessment on human cell lines has not shown any toxicit

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q158338 Annual plants damascena Flora of Africa Flora of Asia Flora of Europe Garden plants Medicinal plants Flora of Western Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus