LINACEiE. 



Nat. si/st. ed. 2. p. 89. 



LINUM. 



Sepals 5, distinct, quite entire or serrated. Petals 5. 

 Stamens 5. Styles 3-5, distinct from the base, or combined to 

 the middle or apex. W. and A. 



261. L. usitatissimum Linn. sp. pi. 397. E. Bot. t. 1357. 

 Fl. Lond. t. 22. Woodv. till. S. and C.\. t. 61. — Found 

 in cultivated fields commonly all over Europe and Asia ; even 

 on the Neelgherry hills of India. 



Root slender. Herb very smooth. Stem 18 inches or 2 feet high, 

 round, straight, leafy, corymbose. Leaves alternate, sessile, acute, 

 3-ribbed, rather glaucous ; the lowermost short and blunt. Flowers 

 several, erect, in a corymbose panicle. Calyx with 3 prominent ribs, 

 and a membranous irregular margin. Petals thin, delicate, roundish, 

 wedge-shaped, readily dropping oif, blue, glossy, and with numerous 

 veins. — The meal of the seeds is used for cataplasms. The infusion 

 is demulcent and emollient. The oil mixed with lime-water has been a 

 favourite application to burns. 



262. L. catharticum Linn. sp. pi. 401. E. Bot. t. 382. 

 Fl. Lond. t. 19. — Dry pastures in Europe. 



Root very small and tapering. Herb smooth. Stems 1 or more* 

 slender and delicate; in the former case very straight and upright; in 

 the latter curved, and ascending obliquely ; seldom more than a foot 

 high ; all bearing many pairs of upright, obtuse, bright green leaves, 

 and a spreading, forked, terminal panicle. The little white tremulous 

 flowers are pendulous before expansion. Calyx leaves serrated, single 

 ribbed. Petals acute, entire. Stigmas capitate. Smith. — This plant 

 is bitter, and powerfully, but, as it seems, not dangerously, cathartic. 

 Dr. Withering found 2 drachms, or more, in a dose, of the dried herb, 

 useful in obstinate rheumatisms. Smith. A drachm of the dried plant 

 is a convenient purgative, or we may employ an infusion of a handful of 

 the recent plant. Pereira. 



263. L. selaginoides L,am. diet. iii. 525. DC.prodr. i. 424. 

 Aug. de St. H.fi. bras. i. 131. — Rocks near Monte Video and 

 in Chili. 



Smooth. Stem short, sufFruticose, corvmbosely branched. Leaves 

 scattered, close together, small, linear, very narrow, terminated by a 

 hair-like mucro. Flowers terminal, subsessile. Petals shorter than 

 the calyx, whitish, or somewhat pink. Ovary completely 10-celled. — 

 Considered bitter and aperient. DC. 



129 K 



