LI'NUM ALPI'NUM. 



ALPINE FLAX. 

 Class. Order. 



PENTANDRIA. PENTAGVNIA. 



Natural Order. 



CARYOPHILLEJ2. 



No. 14. 



Linum comes from the Greek word LIN ON, sig- 

 nifying flax or cotton ; or cloth manufactured from 

 either of them. Alpinum, from the Latin alpinus, 

 belonging to the Alps. Our English word flax, 

 is of Saxon origin, from flex. 



This little plant resembles the Linum usitatissi- 

 mum, or common flax, so well known ; but is shorter 

 in the stem, and the flowers are much larger. 



It may be propagated by cuttings, which strike 

 readily under a hand-glass ; or the seeds may be 

 sown as soon as they are ripe. It is a pretty plant 

 for rock work or the fronts of borders, and prefers 

 a dry sandy soil. 



Flax appears to have been cultivated by the 

 Egyptians, upwards of three thousand years ago, 

 for we read of it in the book of Exodus, chap. 9, 

 ver. 31 ; though it does not appear at what precise 

 period it first became employed for the purposes to 

 which we now convert it. 



Notwithstanding the mention of linen is found in 

 the works of the most ancient historians, it is not 

 quite certain that it was, in their time, manufactured 

 either of flax or hemp. 



