Species
+

Nigella damascena L.

Damascus hellebore, Damaszener Schwarzkümmel (DE), Devil in the bush, Devil in the bush (EN); Cabellos de Venus (ES)

Climate known 57 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nigella damascena, love-in-a-mist, or devil in the bush, is an annual garden flowering plant, belonging to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to southern Europe, north Africa and southwest Asia, where it is found on neglected, damp patches of land.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nigella damascena”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nigella

Nigella is a genus of about 25 species of annual or biennial plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native to Macaronesia, southern and central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Common names applied to members of this genus are nigella, devil-in-a-bush or love-in-a-mist.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nigella”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Baleares, Corse, France +26
Wild records
1253 in range· 791 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Jul, mean day; nights 16 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
800mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 86 mm (CHELSA)
Light
9–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and March to May in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 800 mm a year, wettest October at 86 mm, driest July at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Erobathos coarctatum (C.C.Gmel.) Spach; Erobathos damascenum (L.) Spach; Erobatos damascenum (L.) Spach, 1838; Melanthium damascenum (L.) Medik.; Nigella bithynica Azn. and 16 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and March to May in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (589 mm of 800 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and March to May. Mean temperature moves 16.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and September to November.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 800 mm a year, wettest October at 86 mm, driest July at 46 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

800 mm a year at the habitat, 589 mm of it September to January and March to May. Wettest month October at 86 mm, driest July at 46 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 573 mm to 1192 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 9 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.9 °C, the absolute minimum -9.9 °C, about 35 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 1.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.3 °C to 6.1 °C), warmest day 25.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 9 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Jul; mean night from 2 °C in Jan to 16 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 800 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1148 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost39.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 9–42RH 57–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1148 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C9 / 5–139 / 6–1413 / 10–1615 / 13–1819 / 17–2223 / 20–2726 / 22–3026 / 22–3022 / 19–2618 / 15–2112 / 9–179 / 6–13
Night °C2 / -1–62 / -1–64 / 2–86 / 4–1010 / 8–1414 / 11–1716 / 14–2016 / 14–2013 / 11–1810 / 8–146 / 3–103 / -0–7
Rain mm72 / 49–11058 / 40–9259 / 40–8866 / 49–10468 / 42–10555 / 16–8546 / 5–7852 / 10–8168 / 37–11286 / 66–13685 / 57–13685 / 58–136
DLI10 / 6–1616 / 11–2224 / 18–3132 / 28–3837 / 33–4341 / 34–4842 / 34–4836 / 29–4327 / 20–3418 / 12–2411 / 7–179 / 4–13
RH %64 / 59–6862 / 58–6560 / 56–6359 / 56–6159 / 55–6258 / 53–6257 / 51–6158 / 53–6260 / 56–6362 / 58–6564 / 59–6864 / 59–69

Each figure is the median across the 1148 grid cells holding the 1244 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1019:3508 (39.025, -4.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1148 distinct grid cells holding the 1244 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1019:3508 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.00_-4.375, lapse-corrected -1 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 652 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBaleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Krym, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Madeira, Selvagens, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Turkey· introduced: Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Romania, South European Russia, Azores, Ethiopia, Kamchatka, Primorye, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, British Columbia, Ontario, Québec, Oregon, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Mexico Southwest, Guatemala
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker43.395, 5.604 · in the densest population, 882 records (70% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1253 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 791 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 216 km away. 474 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1253 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascenaNigella damascena

Photographs: (c) katunchik, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Patrick Hacker, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nigella damascena, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Seed yield, yield components, oil content and essential oil content and composition of Nigella sativa L. and Nigella damascena L.
Luigi Filippo D’Antuono, A. Moretti, A. Lovato (2002) · Industrial Crops and Products
The Giemsa-staining centromeres of Nigella damascena
G. E. Marks (1975) · Journal of Cell Science
Establishment of zygomorphy on an ontogenic spiral and evolution of perianth in the tribe Delphinieae (Ranunculaceae)
Florian Jabbour, Louis P. Ronse De Craene, Sophie Nadot, Catherine Damerval (2009) · Annals of Botany
Effective callus induction and plant regeneration in callus and protoplast cultures of Nigella damascena L.
Magdalena Klimek‐Chodacka, Dariusz Kadłuczka, Aneta Łukasiewicz, Aneta Malec-Pala (2020) · Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC)
Nigella damascena L. Essential Oil—A Valuable Source of β-Elemene for Antimicrobial Testing
Elwira Sieniawska, Rafał Sawicki, Joanna Golus, Marta Swatko-Ossor (2018) · Molecules
Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Seed Extracts from Six Nigella Species
Přemysl Landa, Petr Maršík, Jaroslav Havlík, Pavel Klouček (2009) · Journal of Medicinal Food
An APETALA 3 homolog controls both petal identity and floral meristem patterning in N igella damascena L . ( R anunculaceae)
Beatriz Gonçalves, Odrade Nougué, Florian Jabbour, Céline Ridel (2013) · The Plant Journal
Floral organogenesis of Helleborus thibetanus and Nigella damascena (Ranunculaceae) and its systematic significance
Liang Zhao, Ping Liu, Xiao-fen Che, Wei Wang (2011) · Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
Biological Properties, Phenolic Profile, and Botanical Aspect of Nigella sativa L. and Nigella damascena L. Seeds: A Comparative Study
Leila Benazzouz-Smail, Sabiha Achat, Fatiha Brahmi, Mostapha Bachir‐bey (2023) · Molecules
Nigella damascena L. essential oil and its main constituents, damascenine and β-elemene modulate inflammatory response of human neutrophils ex vivo
Elwira Sieniawska, Piotr Michel, Tomasz Mroczek, Sebastian Granica (2019) · Food and Chemical Toxicology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 156 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.