10 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
1.— NIGELLA DAMASCENA, Lin . THE ROMAN, OR DAMASCUS NIGELLA, OR COMMON FENNEL 
FLOWER. 
Synonym es. —Nigella Romana, Hort. Love in a Mist, Devil in i Specific Character. —Anthers blunt. Carpels 5, 2-celled, con- 
a Busli, St. Katherine’s Wheel, &c. j netted, even to the summit, into an ovate globose capsule ; flowers 
Engravings Bot. Mag. t. 22 ; and our fig. 5, in Plate 2. : surrounded by a leafy involucre ; sepals spreading.—(G. Don.) 
Description, history, &c.—L ove in a Mist is a very common flower in gardens. This species is generally 
about a foot high, with numerous fennel-like leaves, and a very pale blue solitary flower at the extremity 
of each shoot. It was mentioned in the general botanic character of the order Ranunculaceae , that some of the 
genera belonging to it, had the sepals changed into petals, and the petals into nectaries. This is the case with 
the present genus. The pale blue leaves which constitute the ornamental part of the flower, are, in fact, the 
sepals of the calyx, while the real petals are rolled up into what may be called little bags for secreting honey, 
and are called nectaries. The carpels in the whole genus of Nigella , differ from those of most of the Ranun- 
culacece , in growing partly together ; and in this genus they are so united as to form one head, or capsule, each 
carpel containing numerous seeds, which are slightly attached to it like peas in a pod. When ripe the carpels 
become dry, and open at the top, to discharge their seeds. These seeds are not poisonous unless taken in 
great quantities, though they have a sharp, acrid, biting taste. The capsules, when the flowers have dropped, 
are, from their elegant vase-like form, almost as ornamental as the flowers. There are several varieties of 
N. Damascena , some with pure white, and some with double flowers ; but they do not appear sufficiently distinct 
to merit separate descriptions, as they will all spring up from seeds of the same pod. In all the flower is 
surrounded by a leafy involucre, which remains on, and surrounds the capsule after the flower is gone. 
. The common Nigella is a native of Italy, and of the south of Europe generally, where it is found wild in corn¬ 
fields, whence its popular name of Nigella Romana. It is also called N. Damascena , because it is said to have 
been brought to England from Damascus in 1570. It was probably, however, introduced before that period, as 
in the edition of Tusser’s Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandry , published in 1572, which included some 
directions for gardening, Nigella Romana is enumerated among the flower-seeds directed to be sown in March, 
as though it were then a common plant, which it could hardly have been if it had been only two years in the 
country. The generic name of Nigella is supposed to be derived from Niger , in allusion to the blackness of the 
seeds; but London and W ise, in the Retired Gardener , tell a legend of a wicked nymph, who was changed into 
this plant, which was afterwards called Nigella , to commemorate the blackness of her heart. In floral language 
the Nigella signifies doubt and uncertainty, or embarrassment. 
Perhaps no plant had ever more popular names than the Nigella. It is called the Devil in a Bush, from the 
appearance of its horned carpels peeping through its bushy leaves; Love in a Mist, from its pale blue flowers 
being surrounded by a mist of leaves, blue being the colour dedicated to true love; love in a puzzle, a name which 
seems to come from the same origin ; St. Katherine’s Wheel, in allusion to the shape of the flower when fully 
expanded ; Gith, that being the Saxon for a weed growing among corn; and garden fennel-flower, which appears 
the most appropriate name, from its leaves resembling those of fennel. It was formerly also called Bishop’s Wort 
in Cambridgeshire, perhaps from the projecting styles which rise above the flower, bearing some slight resemblance 
to a crosier; and in the time of Gerard, Melaiithium, from the Greek word melania, blackness, though now the 
