British wild flowers series No.13

Love-in-a-mist
Nigella damascena.

Is it a wild flower or not?

Originally from the Mediterranean, there is evidence that it has been grown in gardens here since 1570.

It is an annual and its seed often escapes. It establishes itself on waste ground and rubbish tips and where there is not much competition it can be persistent. It is often blue but as here can be white.

I happen to know that on this location the owner brought in soil to build a banking in a private nature reserve and scattered packets of wild flower seeds from a well known horticultural company.

It is a curious plant.Those finely divided linear segments are its leaves. The white things which look like petals are actually the sepals of the flower, the real petals being very small.

Does anyone know the origin of its common name?