] 4 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
OTHER SPECIES. 
Though all the kinds of Nigella mentioned below are mentioned in botanical works as having been 
introduced, and even the dates of their introduction given, we think it very doubtful whether the seeds 
of any of them would be procured for sowing from any of the seed-shops. We enumerate them, however, 
in case any one curious in plants should wish to grow them, as it may be safely taken for a rule, that a demand 
for any given article in such a country as Britain will always be followed by a supply. In this case, nurserymen 
may easily get the seeds, as it is one of the characteristics of the order that the seeds of the plants belonging to 
it may be kept a long time without losing their vitality ; and by writing to the director of some botanic garden 
in the country of which the plant is a native, a few seeds may always be obtained, which the nurseryman will 
soon multiply sufficiently to enable him to supply the demand. 
5.—NIGELLA SATIVA, Lin. 
This is a tall-growing plant, with bluish flowers, which have no involucre. It is found wild in corn-fields 
near Montpelier, and on the opposite African coast of the Mediterranean. It is a plant of no beauty, 
but it is said to be cultivated to some extent in the south of France for its seeds, which are used in 
adulterating pepper. They have a pleasant aromatic smell, and a hot acrid taste, not unlike that spice ; 
and they were formerly in general use instead of it, and also as a carminative medicine. N. sativa was the first 
species of the genus grown in British gardens, for Turner mentions it in his Names of Herles , published in 1548, 
as being then growing at Syon Gardens, near Brentford. There are two varieties grown in France, and one in the 
East Indies; but except one, which has blue flowers, they only differ in some trifling particulars from the species. 
6.—N. CORNICULATA, Dec. THE HORNED FENNEL FLOWER. 
This species has the points of the carpels very stiff, and arched outwardly, like horns. It is a dwarf plant, 
with yellow flowers, and round flat seeds. It is said to have been introduced in 1820, but it is not stated of 
what country it is a native. 
7.—N. ARVENSIS, Lin. THE FIELD FENNEL FLOWER. 
This species resembles N. sativa in its general appearance and properties, but its carpels are smooth, while 
those of N. sativa are warted. It is a native of the shores of the Mediterranean, and was introduced in 1683. 
8.—N. ARISTATA, Sib. and Smith , FI. Grcec., t. 510, 
has the anthers pointed, and the carpels connected into a turbinate fruit; the stem is smooth, and the flowers, 
which are blue, are surrounded by a leafy involucrum. It is a native of the country near Athens, and has 
almost the habit of N. Damascena, growing about a foot and a half high. It may be the same as 
N. involucrata , Hort., see-our jig. 2, in Plate 2, a kind grown in the Hammersmith nursery, but which we 
have been unable to find under the name of N. involucrata in any of the botanical catalogues. 
9.—N. INVOLUCRATA, Hort. Our fig. 2, in Plate 2. 
This species or variety does not appear to have been described in any books, and we are not aware of its being 
grown in any nursery except that of Messrs. Lee, at Hammersmith. It appears,' from the form of its capsule 
and its flower, to be nearly allied to N. nana, and it may possibly be the blue variety of that species. It is 
however a much taller plant, being from a foot to a foot and a half high. 
