FLAX 



119 



FLAX (Linum usitatissimum, L.) 



to spin. The second Latin name refers to its extraordinary usefulness 

 to man. It is llin in Welsh, lion in Gaelic. 



Flax is called Lint Bells, Lint Bennels, Blaebows, Flix, Lin, Line, 

 Lint, Lint-bow, Vlix. A man in the flax trade in Dorset is called a 

 linman. Line is pronounced liin (as in Norse or Danish) either in 

 reference to the plant, or seed linseed, or fibre once prepared on 



