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Nigella nigellastrum; photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SAKrzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nigella nigellastrum (L.) Willk.

Ranunculaceae · France, Spain +12

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Nigella nigellastrum, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNigella nigellastrum, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNigella nigellastrum, photograph Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNigella nigellastrum, photograph Gumush515, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsNigella nigellastrum, photograph Pierre Joseph Garidel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 6 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-0.2°C
Record low -9.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
613mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
11–47DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes September to January and April to May, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

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.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Nigella", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (455 mm of 616 mm) falls in September to January and April to May, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.8 °C against a yearly mean of 14.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to November.

Rain

616 mm in the median year at the habitat, 455 mm of it September to January and April to May. Wettest months (3 at 73 mm), driest month July at 13 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 400 mm to 901 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 613 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 616 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 47 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 9, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -0.2 °C, the absolute minimum -9.1 °C, 185 frost nights in 44 years, 4.2 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 2.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -1.2 °C to 8.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -0.2 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

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

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -32 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Nigella nigellastrum through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 2.1 °C; 616 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-9.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 11–47RH 53–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 190 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C10 / 5–1511 / 5–1615 / 9–1917 / 13–2421 / 18–2726 / 22–3030 / 25–3229 / 25–3225 / 21–3019 / 16–2714 / 11–2211 / 7–17
Night °C2 / -1–93 / -1–95 / 1–108 / 5–1312 / 9–1616 / 13–1919 / 16–2119 / 16–2216 / 12–2112 / 8–187 / 3–143 / 0–11
Rain mm62 / 29–11744 / 23–9743 / 26–6358 / 15–8750 / 4–7932 / 1–5913 / 1–3829 / 1–5366 / 2–10173 / 19–12273 / 39–11373 / 32–110
DLI14 / 10–2020 / 16–2629 / 25–3436 / 33–4242 / 39–4846 / 42–5047 / 43–4940 / 37–4531 / 28–3821 / 18–3014 / 11–2311 / 9–19
RH %61 / 57–6359 / 57–6157 / 55–6056 / 53–6056 / 52–6054 / 51–6053 / 51–5955 / 53–6057 / 55–6060 / 57–6261 / 55–6261 / 56–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 190 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (299 records in those cells; 2 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 929:3703 (43.525, 5.175). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -0.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 190 distinct grid cells holding 299 of the 301 in-range records (2 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 929:3703 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.50_5.000, lapse-corrected -32 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 25 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 3924810 (Garidella nigellastrum L., 1271 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeFrance, Spain, Greece, Kriti, Krym, Turkmenistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Turkey · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker43.547, 5.412 · in the densest population, 206 records (54% of those in range)
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 383 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 299 of them in the land cells it reads, of 301 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 155 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 63 km away. 1 record outside the WCVP native range not used. 82 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 3924810 (Garidella nigellastrum L.): Kew's file holds it as Garidella nigellastrum L. (synonym under Nigella nigellastrum (L.) Willk.); 1,271 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 383 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Nigella nigellastrum, photograph 1did not loadNigella nigellastrum, photograph 2did not loadNigella nigellastrum, photograph 3did not loadNigella nigellastrum, photograph 4did not loadNigella nigellastrum, photograph 5did not load

Photographs: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3); Gumush515, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Pierre Joseph Garidel, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Linum maritimum Linum maritimum Linaceae Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardBromus rubens Bromus rubens Foxtail brome Photo: CC BY-SA, Carmon Cynoglossum cheirifolium Boraginaceae Astragalus hamosus Astragalus hamosus European milkvetch Photo: CC BY, Sara NavarroLolium rigidum Lolium rigidum Mediterranean Rye-grass Photo: CC BY, Jared ShormaNarcissus dubius Narcissus dubius Amaryllidaceae Photo: CC BY, Louis Aureglia

Other Nigella 8 in the reference

Nigella arvensis Nigella arvensis Black-bread-weed Photo: CC BY, Tatyana SovaNigella ciliaris Nigella ciliaris Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, Mitch Van DykeNigella damascena Nigella damascena Love-in-a-mist Photo: CC BY, katunchikNigella hispanica Nigella hispanica Spanish fennel Photo: CC BY-SA, Agustí ReigNigella integrifolia Nigella integrifolia Ranunculaceae Photo: CC0, Dag Terje Filip EndresenNigella orientalis Nigella orientalis Yellow nigella Photo: CC BY-SA, Rossen VassilevNigella papillosa Nigella papillosa Fennelflower Photo: CC0, author not statedNigella sativa Nigella sativa Black-cumin Photo: CC BY, kardelen

Names & registers

Also known as Nigella garidella; Garidella anethifolia; Garidella nigellastrum; Garidella nigelliformis. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFO

The record

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
(L.) Willk.
Native to
France, Spain, Greece +11
Wild records
383 in range · 155 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Nigella nigellastrum (L.) Willk. (plant_name_id 2381731), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1271 records of GBIF's key 3924810, Garidella nigellastrum L. (Kew's file holds it as Garidella nigellastrum L. (synonym under Nigella nigellastrum (L.) Willk.)): the GBIF download; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.50_5.000, lapse-corrected -32 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 711679-1, POWO 711679-1
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 50 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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