Nigella damascena aka Love In A Mist

Nigella damascena, also known as love-in-a-mist, ragged lady, or devil in the bush, is an annual flowering plant belonging to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to southern Europe, north Africa, and southwest Asia, where it grows on neglected, damp patches of land. The plant's specific epithet, damascena, relates to Damascus in Syria, and its common name "love-in-a-mist" comes from the flower being nestled in a ring of multifid, lacy bracts. The plant grows to a height of 20-50 cm and has pinnately divided, thread-like, alternate leaves. Blooming in early summer, the flowers are most commonly different shades of blue but can also be white, pink, or pale purple, with 5 to 25 sepals. The actual petals are located at the base of the stamens and are minute and clawed. The sepals are the only colored part of the perianth, and the four to five carpels of the compound pistil have each an erect style. The fruit is a large, inflated capsule growing from a compound ovary and is composed of several united follicles, each containing numerous seeds. This is rather exceptional for a member of the buttercup family. The capsule becomes brown in late summer, and the plant self-seeds, growing on the same spot year after year. While this plant has some useful properties, it may also be poisonous. To grow devil in the bush as a houseplant, it needs regular watering and long-lasting, direct light, and should be less than 1 foot from a window. It prefers well-draining soil and may benefit from a gentle, organic fertilizer throughout the peak growing season. Devil in the bush belongs to the Nigella genus and is native to Macaronesia and the Mediterranean to Iran.