FLAX FAMILY. Linacem. 



FLAX FAMILY. Linacece. 



A small family mostly composed of not very tall herbs, 

 slender and frail flowered, but remarkable for having 

 furnished the world with linen from time immemorial. 

 The perfect, symmetrical flowers (of the genus Liu it in) 

 have five petals, sepals, styles, and stamens ; the petals 

 before expansion are rolled-up. The fruit is usually in a 

 capsule. Mostly fertilized by the smaller bees and bee- 

 like flies. 



A smooth perennial, with small yellow 

 P, ax flowers terminating slender branches ; the 



Linum five tiny yellow petals scarcely give the 



Virginianum flower a width of £ inch. The small 

 Yellow leaves are lance-shaped, thin, and one- 



ugus r i D k e( j Tn e sepals are ovate and pointed. 

 1-2 feet high. Dry woodlands, and shady places, 

 throughout the north, and south to Ga. 



A somewhat similar species, but an an- 

 sulcatum nual with a usually simple stem and alter- 



nate leaves ; the stem corrugated, at least 

 above, the sharp, lance-shaped leaves three-ribbed, and 

 the yellow flowers a full half-inch broad. 1-2 feet high. 

 In dry soil from E. Mass., west to the Great Lakes, 

 through the mountains south to Ga., and southwest to 

 Tex. Rare along the seacoast. 



A rather delicate-appearing and pretty 

 Common Flax . , „ rt l_ & A 



Linum annual adventive from Europe or escaped 



usitatissimum from cultivation ; it has been under culti- 

 Light blue- vation since prehistoric times for its linen 

 vi0,et fibre and its seed oil. The stem erect, 



une- ep em- k ranc hi n g ? an( j r idged, the alternate leaves 

 lance-shaped, sharp, and three-ribbed. The 

 delicate blue-violet flowers, f inch broad, with five 

 slightly overlapping petals, are fertilized mostly by the 

 honeybee. 9-20 inches high. Along roadsides, by rail- 

 ways, in cultivated fields, and in waste places. 



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