XXVIII. LINEiE (OLIVER). 209 



2. LINUM, Linn. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 242.- 



Sepals 5, entire. Petals 5, contorted in aestivation, fugacious. Stamens 

 5, alternate with the petals, hypogynous, usually connate at the base, with 5 

 alternating setiform or tooth-like staminodia. Ovary 5-celled, with 2 ovules 

 in each cell ; each cell more or less deeply divided vertically by a spurious 

 dissepiment so that the ovary appears 10-celled. Styles 5. Stigmas capitate, 

 oblong or linear. Capsule separating septicidally into 5 2-seeded half-septate 

 valves or into 10 1-seeded valves. — Herbs or shrubs. Leaves usually alter- 

 nate, narrow, entire, glabrous, scabrid or pubescent. Flowers in corymbose 

 cymes or cymose racemes or fascicles, usually blue or yellow, more rarely 

 red or white. 



A rather large and widely -spread genus of temperate and subtropical countries. Neither 

 of the African species are endemici 



Flowers blue. Sepals eglandulose. Stigmas linear-clavate. . . *1. L. usitatissimum. 

 Flowers yellow. Sepals with marginal capitate glands. Stigmas 

 capitate. 

 Leaves and sepals scabrid, at least on the margin. Sepals much 



exceeding the capsule 2. L. strictum. 



Glabrous. Sepals about equalling the capsule 3. L. gallicum, var. 



1 .* L. usitatissimum, Linn. ; DC. Prod. i. 426. 



Cultivated. I have seen specimens only from Abyssinia, Angola, and the mouth of the 

 Zambesi. In tropical couutries it is chiefly growu for the sake of its seeds, which are eaten, 

 and afford a valuable oil (Linseed oil,); in temperate climates for its fibre (Flax). 



2. L. strictum, Linn. ; DO. Prod. i. 424. An erect herb, with as- 

 cending branches. Leaves linear, 1-nerved, scabrid on the margin and often 

 on the under surface. Flowers yellow, small, in cymose corymbs, loosely 

 forking or more usually rather closely fascicled. Sepals with an elongate 

 green acumen from an ovate base, considerably exceeding the capsule, more 

 or less scabrid-hispid ; marginal capitate glands few. Stigmas capitate. — 

 L. abyssinicum, Hochst. in Schimp. PL Abyss, n. 70. L. corymbulosum, 

 Heichb. ; Hochst. in Schimp. PI. Abyss, n. 1901. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



Extends from the Canaries through the Mediterranean region to N.W. India. 



3. 1m. gallicum, X., var. abyssinicum, Planch, in Lond. Journ. Bot. 

 vii. 479. A slender erect annual. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, acute, 

 glabrous. Cymes loosely forking, paniculate. Flowers yellow. Sepals 

 lanceolate, acuminate, with marginal glands, scarcely exceeding the capsule. 

 Stigmas capitate. — L. abyssinicum, Hochst. in Schimp. PI. Abyss, n. 1107. 



Nile Land. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



"With a distribution similar to that of L. strictum, though perhaps not extending so far 

 eastward. 



L. mysorense, Benth. in Bot. Reg. sub t. 1326, agrees generally with the Abyssinian 

 plant, in which the lateral nervures of the leaves appear to be more marked than in the 

 usual form of L. gallicum, but the sepals appear different. 



