Linum LINACE.E 159 



LINUM L. 



Herbs, sometimes shrubby. Leaves sessile, narrow. Stipules 

 wanting or represented by glands. Staminodal glands opposite 

 the petals. Ovary generally 5-celled ; ovules 2 in each cell ; 

 styles generally 5. Capsule septicidally .5-valved, 5-celled. 

 Endosperm scanty. 



Species about 90, natives of temperate and subtropical 

 regions of the whole world, ascending to the mountains in the 

 tropics of the New World. 



L. jamaieense comb. nov. ; Cathartolinum jamaicense Small 

 in Torreya xiii. 63 (1913). (Fig. 50.) 



Amongst grasses, in damp places, Crofts Hill to the savannas on the 

 northern slopes of Bull Head, Clarendon, 2000 ft. ; Hollis's savanna, 

 Upper Clarendon, 2400 ft. ; Harris ! Fl. Jam. 11,159, 12,243. 



Perennial herbs, 9 ins. to 2 ft. high. Stem erect, slender, glabrous, 

 generally simple. Leaves more or less erect, 6-12 mm. 1., linear. Flowers 

 in interrupted spike-like racemes. Sepals about 3 mm. 1., outer lanceo- 

 late, without glands, inner narrowly elliptical, often minutely glandular- 

 toothed. Petals yellow, 4* 5-7 "5 mm. 1., very fugacious. Staminodia 

 wanting. Capsule globular-ovoid, longer than the sepals. 



Family XLIII. ERYTHROXYLACE.ZE. 



Glabrous shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, simple, entire. 

 Flowers white, one to several, in axils of leaves, sometimes 

 appearing before the leaves, regular, perfect but sometimes 

 anthers or pistil infertile ; parts in 5's. Calyx persistent ; seg- 

 ments 5, imbricate. Petals 5, free, deciduous, generally with a 

 ligule at the base. Stamens 10, filaments united below into 

 a cup. Ovary 3-celled, with 1 or 2 pendulous ovules in each 

 cell. Styles 3, usually with terminal capitate stigmas. Fruit 

 drupaceous. Seed generally with endosperm ; embryo straight. 



Species nearly 200, natives of the West Indies and tropical 

 and subtropical S. America, and Africa, very few in the East 

 Indies and Australia. 



ERYTHROXYLON L. 



Stipule one, within the petiole, persistent, occurring frequently 

 though the leaf is undeveloped, broadly triangular (lanceolate 

 in E. obovatum), 2-ridged. Flowers often dimorphic, hetero- 

 styled. Calyx : segments triangular. Petal consisting of a 

 blade and a claw, with a broad scale or ligule attached on the 

 inside where the blade and claw unite. Ovary 3-celled with 



