OF ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 
11 
name of Melanthium is given to a Cape of Good Hope bulb. In the like manner, in the West Indies, the name 
of love in a mist is given to a kind of passion flower ( Passiflora fcetida ), which resembles the Nigella in having 
a leafy involucre surrounding the flower. The French names for the Nigella, of Cheveux de Venus , Patte d’ciraignee , 
and Barbe bleue , are all evidently derived from the circumstance of the flower being surrounded by leaves. 
The Roman Nigella is a very common flower in gardens, and it is found in all the published lists of flower- 
seeds from the time of Tusser to the present day. Gerard praises it for its medicinal virtues, and tells us that 
it was mentioned both by Hippocrates and Galen as a stimulant. London and Wise, in 1706, give particular 
directions for its culture as a border flower; recommending it to be sown in sheltered beds in autumn, and planted 
out into the open border in spring. Its value as an ornamental flower, however, appears to have sunk during 
the succeeding fifty years ; as in a little tract called the London Gardener , published in 1760, it is only mentioned 
as a flower no one would be without “ for the sake of its strange appearance.” This strange appearance is 
probably the reason why it is still cultivated, though now so many much more beautiful flowers have been 
introduced. It is certainly not worthy of a place in a small garden. 
Culture. —This is extremely simple. It may be sown in the same manner as the Flos Adonis; and, like 
that plant, it requires a somewhat moist and sheltered situation. When it has been once introduced, if care be 
not taken to cut off the seed-pods before they are ripe, the seeds will sow themselves, and the plant come up like 
a weed. Its compact bushy shape and erect stem render training and pruning unnecessary ; but thinning is 
essential, as, if the plants are left thick, they will be drawn up with naked stems, and have that untidy and 
tawdry appearance we have already alluded to. The seeds are generally sown in March ; but when wanted to 
flower particularly early, they may be sown in autumn, as they will stand perfectly well through the winter. 
2.—NIGELLA NANA, Hort. THE DWARF NIGELLA. 
Synonymes.— N. coarctata, Gmel. ; N. Damascena, var . Hortus Specific Character. —Anthers blunt; flowers of a greenish white, 
Kewensis. and with a leafy involucre.—(G. Don.) 
Engraving. —Our fig. 1, in Plate 2. 
Description, &c.— A little bushy plant, seldom above six inches high ; very neat and compact in its habit 
of growth, and having very large flowers in proportion to its size. These flowers are of a greenish white, and are 
generally semi-double. There is another kind of dwarf Nigella with blue flowers, the seeds of which are some¬ 
times sold in the seed-shops as those of N. nana ; and another called by the seedsmen the new white Nigella, both of 
which are only varieties of this kind. The origin of the dwarf Nigella is not known, but it is probably only a 
variety of N. Damascena, as its capsules exactly resemble those of that species. There is a figure in Gerard of a 
plant which he calls Nigella flore albo multiplici, which strongly resembles this; but the date assigned for its 
introduction in the Hortus Britannicus is 1793 ; and it does not appear in any of the nurserymen’s catalogues of 
flower-seeds prior to that time. It is a pretty little plant, very suitable for small front gardens; or for any 
situation where it will be near the eye; though, like the common Nigella, it may be considered as more curious 
than beautiful. Its culture is exactly the same as that of the common kind. 
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