508 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



dorsal suture, and having a single seed in each division {fiy. 603). 

 Seed with very little or no albumen ; embryo straight, with the 

 radicle towards the hilum. 



Diagnosis. — Herbs, or very rarely shrubs, with exstipulate, 

 simple, entire leaves. Flowers hypogynous, regular, symme- 

 trical. Sepals, petals, and stamens 3—4 — 5 each ; the sepals 

 persistent and imbricate ; the petals deciduous and twisted in 

 aestivation ; the stamens united at their base, and having little 

 tooth-like abortive stamens alternating with them. Ovary 

 3 — 4 — 5-celled, styles distinct, stigmas capitate. Fruit cap- 

 sular, many-celled, each cell more or less divided by a spurious 

 dissepiment, and each division containing one seed. Seeds with 

 little or no albumen, and having a straight embryo. 



Distribution, ^c — Chiefly natives of the south of Europe 

 and the north of Africa, but more or less distributed over most 

 regions of the globe. Examples: — Linum, Reinwardtia, Clio- 

 cocca, Radiola. There are 4 genera, and 90 species. 



Properties and Uses. — The plants of this order are generally 

 remarkable for the tenacity of their liber-fibres, and also for the 

 mucilage and oil contained in their seeds ; hence the latter are 

 emollient and demulcent. A few are bitter and purgative. The 

 most important genus is 



Lmum — The liber-fibres of Linum usitatissimuin, when prepared in a 

 part'cular way, cox\&t\Ku\.eflax, of which linen fabrics are made. Linen, when 

 scraped, forms lint, which is so much used for surgical dressings. The short 

 fibres of flax which are separated in the course of iis preparation, constitute 

 tow, which is rriuch employed in pharmacy, surgery, and for other purposes. 

 The seeds of the above plant, which is commonly known as the Flax Plant, 

 are termed Linseed or Lintseed. Their seed-coat contains much mucilage, 

 and their nucleus oil. The oil may be readily obtained from the seeds by 

 expression, the amount depends upon the mode adopted, and varies from about 

 18 to 27 per cent. Linseed oil is especially remarkable for drying readily when 

 applied to the surface of any body ex|)osed to the air, and thus forming a hard 

 transparent varnish. This peculiarity is much accelerated if the oil be pre- 

 viously boiled, either alone, or with some preparations of lea I. The cake left 

 after the expression of the oil is known as Oil-cahc&nd is emploj-ed as Ibod for 

 "cattle ; and when powdered it is commonly sold as Linseed Meal, which is much 

 used for making poultices, and for other purposes. The Linseed Meal, however, 

 as directed to be used in the London Pharmacopoeia, is merely Linseed pow- 

 dered ; hence it contains the oil, which is not present in the ordinary meal. An 

 infusion of Linseed is largely employed medicinally for its demulcent and emol- 

 lient properties. The oil is extensively used in the arts, &c. ; and is fbinid to be 

 a valuable application to burnt or scalded parts, eitli. r alone, or combined with 

 an equal quantity of Lime-water ; this mixture is commonly known under 

 the name of Carron-oil, a name derived from its having been extensively em- 

 ployed in the Carron Iron-foundry. Some patents have been taken out of late 

 years lor the manufacture of what has been called Flax-cotton, which it was 

 believed could be used in manufacture in the same way as ordinary cotton, 

 but the process, (which consisted essentiallv in reducing the common flax- 

 fibres to a more minute state of division, by first steeping them in a solution 

 of carbonate of soda, and afterwards in a weak acid solution), does not appear 

 to have answered in a commercial point of view. Linum cathnrticum, com- 

 monly railed Purging-flax, is a common indigenous i)laiit. It possesses active 

 KurKative properties, an<l might be much more employed as a medicine than 

 I the case at present. This, like many other of our na'live plants, is probably 

 but little esteemed, on account of the facility with which it can be obtained. 

 Linum telaginoidei, a Peruvian species, is reputed to be bitter and aperient. 



