LINUM 



USITATISSIMUM 



THE FLAX PLANT 



Perennial 

 Flax. 



Plant first 

 cultivated for 

 Fibre. 



Indian 

 Wild Plant. 



Origin of 

 Indian Stock. 



Classica, 1824, 85 ; Yates, Text. Antiq., 1843, 252-91, 383-8 ; Daubeny, 

 Led. Roman Husbandry, 1857, 117-8 ; Bentham, Rev. on Targioni-Tozzetti, 

 in Journ. Hort. Soc., 1855, ix., 148 ; Eoyle, Fibrous PL Ind., 1855, 135- 

 232 ; Heer, Die Pflanzen der Pfahlb., 1865, 35 ; also Ueber den Flacks 

 und die Flachskultur, 1872 ; De Candolle, Orig. Cult. PI, 119-30 ; Liotard, 

 Cult. Flax Ind., Select. Rec. Govt. of Ind., 1871-9, 1-36 ; II. Br. Ind., i., 

 410 ; The Wealth of Ind., 1897, 100-6 ; Helm, Kulturpfl. und Haust., 



1894, 160-86 ; 570 ; Renouard, fitudes sur le Culture du Linum. ; 

 Voelcker, Improv. Ind. Agri., 1893, 284-6 ; Watt, Stat. Atlas Ind., 



1895, 27 ; Dodge, Flax Culture in Europe and America, U.S. Dept. Agri. 

 Rept., 1898, No. 10 ; Mukerji, Handbook Ind. Agri., 1901, 272-4 ; Mollison, 

 Textbook Ind. Agri., 1901, iii., 94-8 ; Wiesner, Die Rohst. des Pflanzenr., 

 1903, ii., 276-99 ; Cooke, II. Pres. Bomb., 1903, 154-5 ; Prain, Beng. 

 PL, 1903, i., 288-9 ; Duthie and Fuller, Field and Garden Crops, ii., 40-2 ; 

 Duthie, II. Upper Gang. Plain, 1903, 122-3 ; Bull. Imp. Inst. in Board 

 of Trade Journ. suppl., Dec. 1903, 188-200 (reviews papers pub. by 

 Dept. of Agri. and Tech. Instruct, in Ireland, 1902, ii., 636 et seq. ; 

 1903, iii., 663 et seq.) ; LINEJE. 



The above, out of the library of books that might be cited as dealing 

 more or less fully with the subject of Linum, (Linseed and Flax), may be 

 consulted by the reader desirous of botanical, historical and industrial 

 details. The names given to these products in Europe and Asia are so 

 extensive and varied that only those of most frequent use can be here 

 mentioned : linseed, linum, lein, lin, lino, linu ; flax, vlas, flachs, etc. ; 

 alsi, alshi, alish, tisi, chikna, pesu, bijri, keun, zighir, javasa, atasi, alashi, 

 masina, mushina, auma, ksumd, umd ziggar, kattan, zaghu, pischta, etc., etc. 



Species and Races. The Linseed and Flax Plant is cultivated through- 

 out the plains of India, and up to altitudes of 6,000 feet above the sea. 

 According to De Candolle (followed by most other botanical writers), 

 it is indigenous to certain localities situate between the Persian Gulf 

 and the Caspian and Black Seas. A consensus of opinion also favours 

 belief that originally the perennial flax (Linum angustifolium) was the 

 plant that in Europe was first cultivated for its fibre a plant that is 

 wild south of the Alps ; and further that its displacement from popular 

 favour took place about the close of the Stone Age of European history. 



There is no evidence of L. anffustifolinm ever having been met 

 with in India either wild or cultivated. It would seem highly likely (as 

 recently pointed out to me by Mr. J. R. Drummond) that the economic in- 

 formation recorded in the Dictionary under L. strict am, may be incorrect 

 the plant intended to be denoted as cultivated in Afghanistan having 

 very possibly been one of the numerous races of the ordinary linseed. 

 That being so, the only truly wild Lininn within the Indian area, at all 

 related to the oil- yielding L. usitatissimum, is L. perenne, Linn. a 

 species found in Western Tibet at altitudes of 9,000 to 13,000 feet. This 

 is reputed to have been occasionally seen under a crude cultivation, the 

 seeds being valued on account of the oil they contain. 



Thus we are left completely in the dark, not only as to when and 

 where the substitution of L. usitatissitnum for L. angustifoliiini 

 took place in Europe, but as to the origin of the stock that now affords 

 the linseed of Indian commerce. According to some writers L. usita- 

 tissimum, the modern flax-yielding plant of Europe, was derived from 

 India. 



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