LINACEAE (FLAX FAMILY) 531 



4. R. simplicifblia (Walt.) Wood. Dwarf (1-2 dm. high) ; pubescence 

 spreading ; leaflets solitary (rarely 3), round- reniform, very obtuse or apiculate ; 

 racemes few-flowered, sessile in the axils. (R. reniformis DC.) Va. to Fla. 

 and Miss. 



LINACEAE (FLAX FAMILY) 



Herbs (rarely shrubs} with the regular and symmetrical hypogynous flowers 

 4-fi-merous throughout, strongly imbricated calyx and convolute petals, 6 sta- 

 mens monadelphous at base, and an S-10-seeded pod having twice as many cells 

 as there are styles. 



1. Linum Flowers 5-merous. 



2. Millegrana. Flowers 4-merous. 



1. LiNUM [Tourn.] L. FLAX 



Sepals (persistent), petals, stamens, and styles 5, regularly alternate with 

 each other. Pod of 5 united carpels (into which it splits in dehiscence), 

 5-celled, with 2 seeds hanging from the summit of each cell, which is partly or 

 completely divided into two by a false partition projecting from the back of the 

 carpel, the pod thus becoming 10-celled. Seeds anatropous, mucilaginous, flat- 

 tened, containing a large embryo with plano-convex cotyledons. Herbs, with 

 tough fibrous cortex, simple and sessile entire leaves, without stipules, but often 

 with glands in their place, and with corymbose or panicled flowers. Corolla 

 usually ephemeral. (The classical name of the Flax.) 



Petals blue, large (1 cm. or more in length); capsule 10-12 mm. in 



diameter. 

 Annuals ; stigmas elongated. 



False septa of the capsule not ciliate 1. L. usitatistimum. 



False septa of the capsule ciliate 2. L. humile. 



Perennial ; stigmas scarcely longer than broad 8. L. Ltwitii. 



Petals yellow or white ; capsule 86 mm. in diameter. . 



Petals more than 1 cm. long ; western . . . . . . 4. L. riffidum. 



Petals 4-8 mm. long. 



False septa very incomplete, conspicuously ciliate. 

 Petals white ; leaves chiefly opposite ; fruiting pedicels i-lO mm. 



long 5. L. caiharticwn. 



Petals yellow ; leaves chiefly alternate ; pedicels 1-3 mm. long . 6. L. vulcatum. 



False septa nearly complete, not ciliate. 



Stem-leaves chiefly opposite ; branches striate-angulate . . . 1. L. striatum. 

 Stem-leaves chiefly alternate ; branches subterete. 

 Capsule depressed -globose. 

 Leaves oblong or lance-oblong, deep green ; flowering branches 



filiform, flexuous, ascending-spreading 8. L. virginianum. 



Leaves narrowly lanceolate, dull or pale green ; flowering 



branches slightly rigid and fastigiate 9. L. medium. 



Capsule globose-ovoid 10. L.Jloridanum. 



1. L. usiTAxfssiMUM L. (COMMON F.) Erect annual; stem 3-6 dm. high, 

 corymbosely branched at top; sepals acute, ciliate; fruit nearly indehiscent, 

 its septa not ciliate. Occasionally spontaneous in fields and on roadsides. 

 (Introd. from Eu.) 



2. L. HtMiLE Mill. Similar but of lower growth ; capsule dehiscent, its 

 septa ciliate. Similar situations. (Introd. from Eu.) 



3. L. Lewisii Pursh. Perennial, glabrous and glaucous, 3-0 dm. high ; 

 leaves linear, acute ; flowers rather few on long peduncles ; sepals obtuse or 

 acutisli, not glandular-serrulate; styles distinct; pod ovoid. Plains, Wise, 

 to Tex. and Alaska. 



4. L. rigidum Pursh. Glaucous, sometimes slightly puberulent, often low 

 and cespitose, the rigid branches angled ; leaves narrow, erect, usually with 

 stipnlar glands; flowers large; sepals lanceolate, glandular-serrulate; styles 

 united; capsule ovoid, 6-valved. Dry soil, Sask. and Minn, to Kan., and 

 Bouthwestw. (Mex.) 



