130 WILD PLOWEKS or STJMMEB. 



hairy, undivided, and only slightly notched. The stern, 

 however, is frequently three feet high. Occasionally 

 the Flax (Linium usitatissimum) , with its slender pea- 

 green stem and foliage, and its dark blue erect bells, 

 may be found on field borders. This is the flax of com- 

 merce, and its bright seed is the linseed. The fibrous 

 quality of the stem is also present in the "White Flaz 

 (Linium caiharticuin), sometimes found by the road- 

 side where the ground is chalky. 



The two trailing plants known by the name of Toad 

 Flax, or Fluellin, have nothing in common with the 

 above. The flowers are yellow with a purple lip, borne 

 on a slender stem. The Kound-leaved variety (Linaria 

 sj)uria) has round leaves, as its name implies ; in the 

 Sharp-pointed species (lanaria elatine) the leaves are 

 broad and halberd-shaped. 



The reddish -tinted brown-looking stem and leaves, 

 the latter slightly notched, is the Eed Bartsia (JBartsia 

 odontites). It is perhaps as frequently met with in 

 pastures as in corn-fields, under the common name of 

 brown weed. Its two-lipped pink flowers grow down 

 the stem in one-sided clusters, and form small sprays 

 some eight or nine inches high. 



A more common plant is the Annual Knawel (Sole- 



