i62 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



stamens, may be found between them, and the 

 stamens are united in a ring by their base, or they 

 may be free. They are hypogynous. The anthers 

 are versatile. There is no disc, or one made up of 

 five honey-glands. The ovary is three- to five-celled, 

 with as many styles. There are one or two ovules 

 in each loculus. The ovary may be incompletely 

 divided, into twice as many cells as styles, by a 

 nearly complete partition. The stigmas are terminal. 

 The capsule is globular and septicidal, or a drupe. 

 There is no central column. The carpels open 

 inwards by slits lengthwise. The seeds are mucil- 

 aginous, compressed. The embryo is long and 

 straight. 



The flowers contain concealed honey. The anthers 

 and stigma ripen simultaneously. The flowers are 

 dimorphous or trimorphous. Sometimes the flowers 

 close at night and in rainy weather. 



The capsule opens by ten slits and the seeds are 

 wind-dispersed. 



Flax is one of the most valuable products in the 

 vegetable kingdom, and has been cultivated from 

 early times for the bast fibres of the stems. The 

 seeds yield an oil — linseed. The refuse is used for 

 oil-cake. 



The flax plants are pulled up entire, dried in the 

 sun, and the stems are then steeped in water till the 

 fibres are, by fermentation, separated from the rest 

 of the plant. 



