Nigella damascena L.
love-in-a-mist
Stem (5)-20-50 cm tall, branching above. Segments of rosette lvs linear, those of cauline lvs filiform. Involucre present, of 5 finely dissected lvs, twice as broad as the fl. Fls 2-3 cm diam. Sepals in several whorls, blue, ovate, acute, clawed, the innermost sometimes 3-fid. Petals usually 0. Styles 5. Capsule glabrous, ovoid, swollen, 15-30 × 10-20 mm, 10-locular but only 5 locules fertile; styles 15-25 mm long at fruiting. Seeds black, c. 2 mm long, transversely ridged.
N.: Northland, Auckland; S.: Nelson, Canterbury; Ch.
S. Europe, N.W. Africa, Asia Minor 1883
Waste land and roadsides.
FL Nov-Dec FT Dec-Mar.
N.Z. wild plants, being garden escapes, have double fls in which the sepals are in several whorls. The innermost sepals may be divided but do not bear nectaries.
