118 PENTANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Linum. 



* Leaves alternate, 



1. L. usitatissimum. Common Flax. 

 Calyx-leaves ovate, acute, with three ribs. Petals crenate. 



Leaves lanceolate, alternate. Stem mostly solitary. 



L. usitatissimum. Linn. Sp. PL 397. Willd. v.\.\ 533. Fl Br. 342. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 1 9. t. 1357. Curt. Lond.fasc. 5. L 22. Woodv. Med. 

 Boi. t. 111. Mart. Rust. t. 133. Hook. Scot. 97. 



L. n. 836. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 373. 



L. sylvestre. Matth. Valgr. v. 1. 375./. 



L. sylvestre^ sativum plane referens. Rail Sijn. 362. 



(S Linum. Camer. Epit. 200./. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 450./. Fuchs. 

 Hist. 471./. Brunf. v. 1. 170./. Raii Sijn. 362. 



L. germajiicum. Trag. Hist. 353./. 



L. sativum. Ger. Em. 556. f. 



In cultivated fields^ frequent. 



Annual. Julij. 



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

 round, straight, leafy, corymbose at the summit. Leaves scat- 

 tered, sessile, acute, 3 -ribbed, rather glaucous ; the lowermost 

 short and blunt. FL several, erect, in a corymbose panicle, blue, 

 glossy, veiny. Cal. v/ith 3 prominent ribs, and a membranous 

 irregular margin. 



jS is merely the more luxr.riant cultivated state of the same plant. 

 The seeds give out an abundant mucilage to boiling water, and 

 yield by jiressure the well-known linseed oil. The fibrous sub- 

 stance of the bark, duly prepared, m.akes the most delicate and 

 strong vegetable thread that ha?; yet been discovered. All 

 these qualities betray a relationship to the Mallow tribe, or Co- 

 lumniferce; as the botanical characters bring Linum towards 

 Geranium, rather than to the CaryophyUe£o. A learned Ger- 

 man botanist, of more technical than practical skill, once pub- 

 lished L. usitatissimum for a new Geranium, as M. L'Heritier, 

 who had a specimen from him^ informed me. 



2, L. perenne. Perennial Blue Flax. 

 Calyx-leaves obovate, obtuse, obscurely five-ribbed, naked. 



Leaves linear-lanceolate. Stems numerous, ascending. 

 L. perenne. Linn. Sp. PL 397. mild. v. 1. 1534. jFY. Br. 343. 



EngL Bot. v.l.t. 40. Mart Rust. t. 1 34. 

 L. calycibus capsulisque obtusis, foliis alternis lanceolatis acutis, 



caulibus ramosissimis. Mill. Ic. \\\.t. IQQ.f. 2. 

 L. sylvestre c^ruleum perenne erectius^ flore et capitulo majore. 



Rail Sijn. 362. 

 /3. L. sylvestre cseruleum perenne procumbens, flore et capitulo 



minore. Raii Si/n. 362. 



On chalkv hills. 



