FLAX FAMILY H 



carpels, with as many free or partly united styles ; ovary 1-5-celled, or falsely 4-10- 

 celled. Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Fruit a capsule, splitting longitudinally into twice 

 as many parts as carpels. Seeds 1-2 in each cell, oily; endosperm little or none; 

 embryo straight. 



About 14 genera and 160 species of wide geographical distribution. 



1. LINUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 277. 1753. 



Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes woody at base. Stipules wanting, or small and 

 gland-like. Leaves alternate, sessile, entire or rarely toothed. Sepals 5, persistent or de- 

 ciduous. Petals 5, blue, red, yellow, or white. Stamens 5, their filaments united at base. 

 Styles 2-5, elongated, distinct or partly united; stigmas elongated and introrse, or capitate 

 and terminal. Capsule 2-5-celled; carpels with incomplete false septa. Seeds turgid, or 

 flattened and lenticular or lunate. [The classical name of flax.] 



About 90 species, natives of temperate and subtropical regions. Type species, Linum usitattsstmmn L. 



Stigmas elongated, stigmatic along the inner surface; styles 5; petals unappendaged, blue; seeds flattened and 

 lenticular. 



Annual; sepals, at least the inner, ciliate on the margins. 



Petals over 10 mm., often IS mm. long; fruiting capsule 6-7 mm. high, its valves glabrous on the inner 



edge of the septum. 1. L. usitatissimum. 



Petals under 10 mm., usually 7-8 mm. long; fruiting capsule 4-5 mm. high, its valves long-ciliate on the 

 inner edge of the septum. 2. L. angustifoUum. 



Perennial; sepals not ciliate on the margins. 3. L. Lewisii. 



Stigmas capitate and terminal; styles 2-5. 



Petals unappendaged and entire at base, yellow or white; styles 2 or 4—5; seeds flattened and somewhat lunate. 

 Styles 4-5; herbage puberulent throughout; perennial. 4. L. puberuhim. 



Styles 2; herbage glabrous throughout; annual. 5. L. digynum. 



Petals with 1-3 ventral appendages and small lateral lobes at the base, rose-colored, white or yellow; styles 3; 

 seeds turgid. 



Leaves and bracts glandular-ciliate. 



Flowers pink; leaves broadly ovate, flat. 6. L. drymarioides. 



Flowers yellow; leaves lanceolate, involute. 7. L. adenophylliim. 



Leaves and bracts entire. 

 Petals yellow. 



Staminodia 2; flowers scattered in pedicels well exceeding the calyx; petals 3-4 mm. long. 



8. L. Clevelandii. 

 Staminodia none; upper flowers in clusters of 2-3; pedicels shorter than calyx; petals 5-7 mm. 

 long. 9. L. Breweri. 



Petals white, pink or rose-purple. 



Flowers on long filiform pedicels, not congested. 



Petals 2-3 . 5 mm. long, their lateral lobes rudimentary or obsolete. 



10. L. tnicranthum. 



Petals 5-7 mm. long, their lateral lobes prominent and a little thickened. 



11. L. spergulinum. 



Flowers short-pedicelled or sessile and congested at the ends of the branches. 



Plants glabrous and glaucous. 12. L. californicum. 



Plants pubescent. 13. L. congcstum. 



1. Linum usitatissimum L. Flax or Linseed. Fig. 2988. 



Linum usitatissimum L. Sp. PI. 277. 1753. 



Annual, erect often tufted, branching above, 3-5 dm. high, glabrous and glaucous. Leaves 

 alternate, 3-nerved, lanceolate, 1-4 cm. long, 2-6 mm. wide, 3-nerved ; inflorescence a terminal 

 cymose panicle ; pedicels slender ; sepals ovate, acuminate, the inner ones ciliate and 3-ribbed ; 

 petals blue, 10-12 mm. long, cuneate-obovate, crenulate; styles distinct or nearly so; capsule 

 ovoid-conic, 6-8 mm. long ; indehiscent. 



Roadsides, naturalized from Europe; widely spread in the Pacific States, especially in western Washington 

 and Oregon. May-June. 



2. Linum angustifolium Huds. Narrow-leaved Flax. Fig, 2989. 



Linum angustifolium Huds. Fl. Angl. ed. 2. 134. 1778. 



Annual, the stems branching from the base, rather slender, 2.5-5 dm. high, upper flowering 

 branches very slender. Leaves narrowly linear, 8-15 mm. long, sharply acute at apex; pedicels 

 almost filiform, 1-2 cm. long; sepals 5 mm. long, ovate to broadly ovate, cuspidate at apex; petals 

 blue, 7-8 mm. long; capsule subglobose, about equaling the sepals, inner margin of the valve- 

 septa long-ciliate. 



Adventive from the Mediterranean Region; western Oregon, especially along roadsides in Douglas County, 

 and in coastal California from Humboldt County to San Mateo County. Type locality: Europe. June-Sept. 



