Nigella

Nigella sativa

Ranunculaceae

Kalonji — the small black seed on naan, a peppery-oregano spice with a long West Asian kitchen record.

Culinary seed (kalonji, black cumin). Not love-in-a-mist of the cottage border, though they are cousins.

Parts used: Ripe seed
Traditional notes: Kitchen spice · After-meal seed · Traditional winter folklore at food dose
Grow · USDA 6b: Cool-season annual. Self-sows. Direct-sow in early spring. Hates transplanting. In work: Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul
Harvest: Capsules when they tan; bag or they shatter.

Buy N. sativa seed, not a packet of love-in-a-mist.
The inflated pod is the harvest.

Safety

Pregnancy in medicinal — not food — amounts The ornamental nigella as a spice

Lore

A hadith calls it a cure for every disease except death — which is already too much to ask of a bagel seed. Tutankhamun’s tomb held it. The Latin nigella is ‘little black.’ Kalonji on naan is the same plant as the old bottle of black-cumin oil, at a kinder dose.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.