i66 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



Flax is also called Lint Bells, Lint Bennels, 

 Blaebows, Flax, Flix, Lin, Line, Lint, Lint-bow, 

 Vlix. 



A bride in Germany was expected to put flax in 

 her shoes that she might never come to poverty. 

 Elsewhere it was customary to tie a string of flax 

 round the left leg in order to enjoy the full blessings 

 of marriage. The blue flowers are connected with 

 blue eyes or blue skies, and the plant thus called 

 Spring wort. 



LiNUM usiTATissuMUM. — III Fig. ^1 the flax habit 

 is well shown, also the large flowers, the rounded cap- 

 sules, and persistent calyx. 



ig. The Geranium Group (Summary). 



{Introductory Volume, p. 74.) 



In the order Geraniaceae are included some of the 

 most beautiful plants in the world, and nearly every 

 cottager delights to cultivate the Pelargonia or so- 

 called Geraniums, which grow so luxuriantly in the 

 window-case, almost invariably the admiration of the 

 passer-by. 



The Woodsorrel and Balsam groups have been 

 included in this order by Bentham and Hooker. 



Of the order Geraniaceae there are over 400 

 species, placed in 11 genera. They are of cosmo- 

 politan distribution, but the Pelargonia are mainly 

 derived from the Cape of Good Hope, the true 



