Plant · P-628

Nigella

Nigella sativa

Nigella is grown for its small black aromatic seed, used whole as a spice on bread, cakes, curries and pickles - despite the common names black cumin and black onion seed, it is unrelated to either plant. Only fully ripe seed carries the spicy, fruity, almost nutmeg aroma; unripe seed is just bitter. It is a genuinely greedy neighbor that measurably stunts nearby plants, legumes worst of all, so it wants its own bed or an edge rather than a spot shared with beans, peas or clover. Dried seed doubles as a natural moth repellent tucked among stored clothes.