Nigella damascena

9.7

A garden plant with fine leaves and pale blue or white flowers often called love-in-a-mist

noun

Specialized

: Nigella damascena

The delicate flowers of Nigella damascena add a charming touch to cottage gardens.

Examples

Many gardeners sow Nigella damascena in spring for a beautiful display in early summer.
Dried seed pods from Nigella damascena are often used in floral arrangements.
The Nigella damascena blooms beautifully in the summer.
Have you seen the Nigella damascena in the garden?
Many gardeners sow Nigella damascena in spring for a beautiful display in early summer.
The delicate flowers of Nigella damascena add a charming touch to cottage gardens.
Dried seed pods from Nigella damascena are often used in floral arrangements.

Synonyms

love-in-a-mist

vsNigella damascena

9.9

A garden flower with fine feathery leaves and small blue or white flowers

is the formal botanical name rather than the common garden name

Surface Forms

Nigella damascena singular

Nigella damascenas plural

Morphology

nigella + damascena

This is a Latin binomial combining a genus name (Nigella) and a specific epithet (damascena), so a learner who knows the parts would reasonably infer it denotes a species of Nigella (i.e., a plant) and that the epithet likely indicates an attribute or origin (e.g., relating to Damascus). However, the precise common name 'love-in-a-mist' and the detailed descriptive meaning are not directly derivable from the parts for a B1 learner, and the Latinized epithet is partly opaque, making the overall meaning only partially predictable.

Etymology

Nigella damascena is the Latin name for the garden flower also called 'love-in-a-mist' because its fine, feathery leaves make the blossom look like it sits in a soft mist. The word Nigella comes from a Latin word for 'black' because of its dark seeds, and damascena means 'from Damascus', so the name helps you remember the plant and its seeds.