Leaf
emeline JEURISSEN, Tela Botanica · CC BY-SA 2.0
Love-in-a-mist
Nigella damascena L.
Also known as: Devil-in-a-bush, Ragged lady
Family: Ranunculaceae
30 to 50 cm tall
Grown in borders and beds, also self-sown in fields and wasteland
Flowering: June – August
Full sun
Not hardy, annual plant sown every year, the seeds survive frost in the ground
❓ How do you recognise this plant?
Love-in-a-mist owes its other name, "friar's beard" (herbe de capucin in French), to the fine ruff of thread-like foliage surrounding each flower like a monk's hood.
🍃 Leaves
Very finely cut, thread-like, forming a lacy ruff beneath the flower
🌸 Flowers
Pale to bright blue, surrounded by a ruff of thread-like bracts, with 5 petals
🍎 Fruits
Large inflated multi-celled capsule, very decorative, persisting after flowering
🪵 Bark
Fine, upright, branched herbaceous stem
🗺️ Distribution
Native to the Mediterranean basin; widely grown and sometimes self-sown throughout France
🐝 Value for pollinators
Nectar-rich flowers visited by bees and bumblebees
✂️ Horticultural uses
Annual bedding plant valued for its delicate blue flowering and its decorative capsules used in dried bouquets
⚠️ Possible toxicity
Seeds slightly toxic at high doses; not to be confused with the nigella grown as a spice (Nigella sativa)
🌿 Other Ranunculaceae to discover
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.
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