NATURAL ORDER LINEA. 
Section of genus Linum, having free petals, and leaves without glands 
at their. bases. 
Puate V.—Linum Maritimunm. Linn. Woods. De Candolle. 
Grenier and Godron. 
Gerneric.— Styles 5, rarely 3, terminating in an ovary, whose cells 
equal or double their number. Stamens 5, rarely fewer, sometimes 10. 
Petals equaling the stamens in number. Sepals equaling the stamens in 
number. 
SpeciFic.—Stigmas brush-shaped, Styles generally twice as long as 
the stamens, but in individual instances shorter than them? Petals of 
a fine sulphur yellow, about three times as long as the calyx? Sepals 
broadly obovate, acuminate, fringed with glands. Peduncles arranged 
in somewhat scorpioid racemes. ; 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE V.—This plate represents Linum maritimum, 
one of the many beautiful representatives of the family to be found in 
the neighbourhood. Fig. 1 shows the calyx, with the stamens in the 
act of emitting their pollen, and the five brush-headed styles pushed out 
high above them. 
Remarks.—This Flax genus is destined from henceforward to bring 
to our remembrance the name of Mr. Darwin. His wonderful disco- 
veries concerning the reciprocal fertilization in certain species of the 
genus Linum, not only are offered as startling facts to men of deep and 
established knowledge, but are presented to you and to me, my Reader, 
that we may have fresh subjects for inquiry, and definite objects on 
which we may expend our powers of observation. Mr. Darwin has 
proved (for account refer to “ Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean 
Society ” for May 13th, 1863, page 69, and following pages) that im some 
species of Linum—as, for example, Linum grandiflorum—the pollen of the 
flowers of any one given plant is impotent to fertilize those flowers, 
and that any such plant, without receiving pollen other than its own, 
would set no capsules productive of good seed. But Linum grandi- 
florum is dimorphic ; that is to say, produces two kinds of flowers, each 
on a separate plant, one with long styles, as in fig. 1, and the other with 
styles so short as to be hidden by the stamens. Now, the pollen from 
