298 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
NIEREMBERGIA. 
(Dedicated to Nieremberg, a Spanish Jesuit.] 
Nierembérgia gracilis,— Slender Nierembergia. — A 
charming, half-hardy perennial, from South America. The 
stems are exceedingly slender and much branching, and 
bear all summer a profusion of flowers, which are an inch 
across, with a very slender tube; pale-lilac, with yellow 
throat. 
N. filicatilis.—Thread-stemmed Nierembergia, similar 
to the foregoing, but with a more branching and spread- 
ing habit and larger flowers, white or lilac, with violet 
streaks. WV. alba, a splendid white; WV. intermedia, deep- 
purple, with yellow eye; and WV. albiflora compacta nana, 
dwarf, with compact growth, and white flowers with yellow 
eye, are among the garden varieties, 
NIGELLA.—FEnNEL-FLOWER. 
{Name from niger, black, from the color of its seed.] 
Nigélla Damascéna, is known by a number of names; 
Fennel-flower, because the plant has fine-cut.leaves like 
fennel, Love-in-a-mist, because the flower is enveloped in 
its finely divided involucre, Devil-in-the-bush, because the 
flower is partly concealed in its fine-cut foliage, that evil 
character being supposed to hide himself as much as pos- 
sible from public view. This species is a native of the 
South of Europe, one and one-half foot high; flowers 
light-blue, with a white variety. The seeds of this and 
LV. sativa, are sometimes used in cookery, instead of more 
expensive aromatics. They are also said to be extensively 
used in the adulteration of pepper. The double varieties 
are handsome border-annuals, requiring but little care in 
their cultivation. In flower from July to October, 
