FLAX 117 



The name Spergula, Dodonaeus, is from the Latin spargo, I scatter, 

 the seeds being widely scattered in cornfields, and arvensis denotes its 

 preference for cultivated ground. 



It is called Beggar-weed, Bottle Brush, Cowquake, Dodder, Dother, 

 Farmer's Ruin, Toad Flax, Franke, Granyagh, Lousy Grass, Make- 

 beggar, Mountain Flax, Pick Pocket, Pick Purse, Poverty Weed, 

 Sanclweed, Spurry, Yarr, Yarrel, Yawr, Yur. 



The name Spurrey is said to be given because "on the stalk are 

 set at distances, or joints, small narrow leaves, waving or bending, in 

 the manner of a star or a spur rowel of many points ". But Spurrey 

 may be from Spergula. It was called Franke because it has the pro- 

 perty of fatting cattle. 



On the Continent it is used as fodder, and is thought equal to clover 

 in France. Poultry eat the seeds. An oilcake is prepared from it, 

 excellent for cattle. It can be sown and reaped in eight weeks. In 

 times of famine it has been used to make bread. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



58. Spergula arveusis, L. Stem slender, suberect, leaves whorled, 

 linear, subviscid, with chaffy stipules at the base, flowers panicled, small, 

 white, petals entire, seeds with clavate papillae 



Flax (Linum usitatissimum, L.) 



This plant is one of the most anciently cultivated plants, found in 

 Neolithic and Roman beds in Britain, Capsules and seeds of flax are 

 common at Redhill, suggesting the bundles were steeped there. It was 

 cultivated in Neolithic times. It occurs to-day where flax is cultivated 

 either for oil or fibre, and has been so for 4000 to 5000 years in Meso- 

 potamia, Assyria, Egypt, being still wild in the district between the 

 Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea, Black Sea. 



The early cultivation of this plant shows that it has been used in 

 the weaving of textiles for a long period, and as its occurrence to-day is 

 merely an indication of its escape from cultivation its habitat is always 

 (in Britain) an artificial one. It is found on waste ground, in offal 

 yards, millyards, docks, and granaries, and generally in and about 

 towns where the seeds are liable to dispersal, or where canals and 

 railways assist in the accidental scattering of seeds. 



Flax has a characteristic habit of its own, being usually erect and 

 single-stemmed. It has narrowly elliptical alternate leaves, which are 

 ascending and linear. It is branched above, and smooth, the leaves 

 close, without order, and 3-nerved. 



