184 ENGLISU BOTANY. 



This species has frequently heen mistaken for L. perenne, but 

 the stems are fewer in L. angustifolium, and spring directly from 

 one point at the crown of the root ; they are rather more wiry, 

 and have the leaves more remote. The branches in the upper part 

 of the stem are longer, more wiry and numerous. The flowers are 

 much smaller than those of L. perenne, -^ to f inch across, very 

 pale bluish-lilac, with the petals narrower, less truncate at the 

 apex, scarcely contiguous, more caducous, and not more than 

 twice or thrice as long as the sepals. The capsules are on longer 

 pedicels and much more strongly mucronate, but the very different 

 structure of the sepals is by far the most satisfactory chai'acter for 

 separating the two. The seeds are ^ inch long, plano-convex, dark 

 brown, shining. Whole plant dull glaucous green, with the stems 

 frequently tinged with purple. 



It is certainly frequently only of annual duration on the dry 

 chalky banks of the Kentish coast. 



Narrow-leaved Flax. 



French, Lin d, Feuilles Etroites. German, Diinnhldttriger Lein. 



SPECIES IV.— LINUM USITATISSIMUM. Linn. 



Plate CCXCII. 

 Eelch. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VI. Hyp. Tab. CCCXXIX. Fig. 5155. 



Root annual. Stems solitary or few, corymbosely branched ; 

 branches ascending towards the apex. Leaves elliptical - strap- 

 shaped, attenuated at each end, acute at the apex. Two outer 

 sepals oval-acuminate, with rather narrow entire membranous 

 margins ; three inner ones broader, acuminate with broad fimbriate- 

 ciliate membranous margins ; all strongly 3-nerved, with only the 

 middle nerve reaching the apex. Capsule mucronate, with the edges 

 of the dissepiments in the interior glabrous. 



Var. «, imlgare. 

 Tall ; seeds dark. 



Var. ^, crepitans. 

 L. humile, " Mill." Planch. 1. c. 

 L. crepitan.s, Dumort. (?) Fl. Belg. Prod. III. 



"Smaller and more branched; capsules opening with elas- 

 ticity. Seeds paler." (Bab. Man.). 



In cultivated fields and other places, but not permanently 

 naturalized in Britain, though often occurring, from the seeds 

 being accidentally dropped, or from the remains of flax culture. 



[England, Scotland, Ireland]. Summer and Autumn. 



