Nigella arvensisL. - Love-in-a-mist
Scientific Description:
Plant glaucous, 10−50 cm, usually branched. Cauline leaves pinnatisect, trisect or entire, the laciniae linear, or short and oblong. Sepals pale blue, greyish or dirty white, with broadly ovate, acuminate limb, truncate or subcordate at base and narrowed into a claw nearly as long as limb. Petals with lower lip bipartite, lobes attenuate into short laciniae with thickened apices, the upper lip linear and shorter. Anthers yellowish with short or long mucro. Follicles united to up to ⅔ of their length, each with 3 strong abaxial ribs, ± tuberculate but not or scarcely tranversely rugose; beak a little longer or shorter than the follicle. Seeds triquetrous.
Flowering time: June−August.
Habitat: Steppe, waste places, fields etc., s.l.−1700 m.
var. glauca Boiss.
Follicles oblong, united from ½ to ⅔ of their length; beak erect or somewhat divergent; laciniae linear.
Reference:
Davis PH (1965). Nigella arvensis L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 1: 100−101.
Public Description:
Nigella arvensis, commonly known as “love-in-a-mist”, is native to western Asia. It is a grassy annual plant that shorter than 50 cm in length, and with pale blue, greyish or dirty white flowers. Unlike other varieties, it has naked flowers, oblong follicles, and erect beak. The seeds of the plant are lightly aromatic, but when they are ground or chewed, a thyme-like odor appears. The taste is aromatic and a little bitter. The seeds are normally used (raw or cooked) as a flavouring on cakes, bread etc. This plant, which was used by the Assyrians and ancient Egyptians for more than 3000 years, has also been used by Asian herbalists and pharmacists since ancient times. It was used as food material in Rome and in bread making in the Middle East.
References:
Anonymous 1 (2016). http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Nigella+arvensis /,Accessed date: 05.05.2016.
Anonymous 2 (2016). http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Nigellaarvensis_page.htm / ,Accessed date: 05.05.2016.
Doğan Güner E (2012). Nigella L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 779−780.