Near the Continental Divide in Montana, Capt. Meriwether Lewis, 

 of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition, found, one day, blue 

 fields of a wild flax which particularly interested him, because the 

 plant had perennial roots. This flax proved to be a new species 

 and was named Linum l&wisii by Frederick Pursh, the distinguished 

 botanist (1774^-1820), in honor of its first collector. Prairie flax is 

 a native western North American species, which is widely distributed 

 from Manitoba to Alaska and southward to California, Texas, and 

 Mexico. Although common over the prairies and foothills, where it 

 often forms dense stands, it also grows in the coniferous timber 

 types of the mountains and occasionally occurs as high as 10,000 feet 

 in Colorado and the Southwest. The "common blue flowering flax" 

 to which Fremont 1 so frequently alludes, in describing western 

 floral landscapes, is almost certainly Linu/mi lewisii. 



Over most of its range, prairie flax ranks as worthless, poor, or, 

 when young and tender in the spring, occasionally fair forage. In 

 certain regions of intensive use, particularly in parts of Montana, 

 Wyoming, and adjacent eastern Idaho, Colorado, and the Modoc 

 areas of northeastern California, it sometimes rates as fair for cattle 

 and fairly good for sheep. Such utilization, however, is largely cor- 

 related with an inferior stand of palatable grasses and weeds. Al- 

 though at least one native American flax species has positively been 

 involved in livestock losses, apparently no definite suspicion of poi- 

 sonous properties has fastened on prairie flax. Analysis by the 

 Bureau of Chemistry and Soils, of Linimi leuiisii material, from the 

 Gila National Forest, New Mexico, failed to demonstrate the pres- 

 ence of hydrocyanic acid or other toxic substance. 



Prairie flax was an important fiber plant among the western 

 Indians. Today, it merits cultivation as an ornamental, even if 

 not needed for cordage and similar purposes. In describing its use 

 by the Klamath Indians, Dr. Coville 2 writes : 



The stems produce a remarkably strong fine fiber which is made into strings 

 and cords. These are employed in certain parts of baskets and mats, in the 

 meshes of snowshoes, and in the weaving of fish nets. . . . The plant grows 

 in openings of yellow-pine forests and in the upper altitudes of the sage plains, 

 and could doubtless be propagated successfully in such areas without irriga- 

 tion. It deserves careful experiment as a source of commercial fiber. 



FLAXES 



Li'num spp. 



Linum, a genus of annual or perennial herbs of the relatively small 

 flax family (Linaceae], consists of between about 90 and 100 species, 

 growing in the temperate and warm regions of both hemispheres. 

 Approximately one-fourth of these species occur in the United 

 States. Linen thread, manufactured from the cultivated, Old World 

 flax (L. usitatis' sirruwri) , is the most important vegetable fiber from 

 the standpoints of long-continued and widespread usage. Its use 

 in Asia and Europe dates back to the dawn of history, an antiquity 

 which is partly evidenced by the similarity of its nomenclature, at 



1 Fremont, J. C. REPOET OF THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION TO OREGON AND NORTH CALI- 

 FORNIA, IN THE YEARS 1843-M4. U. S. H. Doc. 166: [103J-294, illus. 1845. 



2 Coville, F. V. NOTES ON THE PLANTS USED BY THE KLAMATH INDIANS OF OREGON. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Bot, Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herbarium 5 : 87-108. 1897. 



