Appearance
It grows to 20–50 cm tall, with pinnately divided, thread-like, alternate leaves.The flowers are most commonly different shades of blue, but can be white, pink, or pale purple; with five 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. The four to five carpels of the compound pistil have each an erect style. The flowers blossom in May and June.
The fruit is a large and 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. The plant self-seeds, growing on the same spot year after year.
Naming
The specific epithet damascena relates to Damascus in Syria. The plant's common name comes from the flower being nestled in a ring of multifid, lacy bracts. It is also sometimes called devil-in-the-bush.The related "Nigella sativa" (and not N. damascena) is the source of the spice variously known as nigella, "kalonji" or black cumin.
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