Nigella damascena, commonly named love-in-a-mist, is an annual garden flowering plant, belonging to the buttercup family. It is native to southern Europe, north Africa, and southwest Asia.
Other common names are devil-in-the-bush, Jack-in-prison, hair of Venus, ragged lady, bird’s nest, kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise, St. Katharine’s flower, lady in the Bower, fennel flower, love-in-a-tangle, love-in-a-puzzle, gith and nigella.
Its botanical name is derived from ‘niger’, the Latin word for black, which refers to the rich black seeds of the plant, as well as Damascus, a city near which the plant grows in the wild.
Shown here is a flower bud of Nigella damascena.