458 



LINEjE. I. LINUM. II. RADIOLA. MALVACEAE. 



ones rather imbricate ; panicle coarctate ; sepals acute, serru- 

 lated, shorter than the petals. ^ S. Native of Brazil. 

 Plant shrubby at the base. Flowers flesh-coloured. 

 Flesh-coloured-flowered Flax. PI. f to 1 foot. 



t Species not sufficiently known, but most of nhich evidently 

 belong to the last section, with blue flowers. 



71 L. HISPA'NICUM (Mill. diet. no. 7.) stem panicled, pro- 

 cumbent ; leaves scattered, linear-lanceolate ; sepals acute. 

 I/ . H. Native of Spain. Flowers like those of L. usitatissi- 

 mum. 



Spanish Flax. FI. June, July. Clt. ? PI. procumbent. 



72 L. BIE'NNE (Mill. diet. no. 8.) stems branched ; leaves 

 alternate, linear ; sepals spreading, acuminated. $ . H. Native 

 of Istria. Flowers like those of L. usitatissimum. 



Biennial Flax. Fl. June, July. Clt. ? PI. 3 foot. 



73 L. PALLASIA'NUM (Schult. syst. 6. p. 758.) plant pubes- 

 cent ; leaves linear, acute, hoary ; sepals smoothish, acute, with 

 white, lacerated margins. 7/ . H. Native of Russia about 

 Cherson. L. pubescens, Willd. mss. Corolla blue, 3-times 

 longer than the calyx. 



Pallas's Flax. PI. 1 to 2 feet. 



74 L. PUBE'SCENS (Russ. allep. ex Schult. syst. 6. p. 758.) 

 stem round ; floral leaves opposite, lanceolate, pilose ; flowers 

 almost sessile ; sepals ciliated, length of leaves. If.? H. Native 

 of Syria about Aleppo. Flowers unknown. 



Pubescent Flax. PI. 1 foot. 



75 L. TRINE'RVIUM (Roth. nov. spec. 187.) plant glabrous ; 

 leaves alternate, linear, 3-nerved ; sepals oblong, 3-ribbed. 

 Native of the East Indies. Flowers perhaps yellow. 



Three-nerved-\ea\ed Flax. PI. 1 foot? 



76 L. BROTE'RI (Hoffmansegg.) sepals awl-shaped, larger 

 than the calyx ; flowers rather panicled ; leaves filiform, glan- 

 dularly ciliated. Native of Spain. Flowers white. 



Brotero's Flax. PI. ? 



$ 3. Flowers white. Leaves opposite. 



77 L. CATHA'RTICUM (Lin. spec. 401.) plant erect, glabrous; 

 leaves opposite, obovate-lanceolate ; stem forked at the top. 

 O- H. Native throughout Europe, both in dry and moist 

 meadows ; plentiful in Britain. Smith, engl. bot. 6. t. 382. 

 Curt. lond. fasc. 3. t. 19. Mart. rust. t. 135. Schkuhr. handb. 

 l.t. 87. Black herb. t. 368. Petals white, acute. Flowers 

 pendulous before expansion. This plant is bitter, and power- 

 fully, but as it seems, not dangerously cathartic. Dr. Wither- 

 ing found 2 drachms or more, in a dose, of the dried herb, 

 useful in obstinate rheumatisms. 



Cathartic or Purging Flax or Mill Mountains. Fl. June, July. 

 Britain. PI. | to 1 foot. 



Cult. Most of the species of this genus are very ornamental. 

 The green-house and frame species grow freely in a mixture of 

 loam and peat, and cuttings strike root readily in the same kind 

 of soil under a hand-glass. The hardy shrubby species will 

 grow in any light soil, and cuttings will root freely under a hand- 

 glass. The hardy perennial species are well adapted for orna- 

 menting flower-borders, but the dwarf kinds succeed best on 

 rock-work, or to be grown in pots, that they may be protected 

 by a frame in severe weather, or from too much wet ; they may 

 be increased by dividing the plants at the root, by cuttings 

 planted under a hand-glass, or by seeds, which in most of the 

 species ripen in abundance. The annual species only require 

 to be sown in the open ground in April. 



II. RADFOLA (from radioing, a little ray, in allusion to the 

 rayed capsules). Gmel. syst. 1. p. 289. D. C. prod. 1. p. 428. 



LIN. SYST. Tetrdndria, Tetragynia. Sepals of calyx 4, 

 joined to the middle, each of which is deeply and acutely 3-cleft. 

 Petals 4, obovate, undivided, length of calyx. Anthers 2-lobed. 

 Ovary 4-lobed. Styles 4, short. Stigmas capitate. Capsules 

 roundish, somewhat pointed, with 8 furrows and 8 valves, with 

 inflexed edges ; 8 cells ; seeds solitary in the cells, oval, com- 

 pressed, polished. 



1 R. LINOIDES (Gmel. syst. 1. p. 289.). . H. Native in 

 wet sandy ground throughout Europe ; plentiful in Britain. 

 R. millegrana, Smith, fl. brit. 202. engl. bot. 13. t. 893. 

 Linum radiola, Lin. spec. 402. Fl. dan. t. 178. Vaill. par. 33. 

 t. 4. f. 6. Stem repeatedly forked, leafy, many-flowered, mo- 

 derately spreading and somewhat corymbose. Leaves sessile, 

 small, ovate, 3-ribbed. Flower-stalks solitary from the forks 

 of the stem as well as its ultimate branches, white, very minute. 

 Capsules light brown, rather depressed. 



Flax-like Radiola or Flax-seed. Britain. PL 1 to 2 inches. 



Cult. The seeds of this very small plant should be sown in 

 a moist sandy situation, where it may afterwards be allowed to 

 scatter itself. 



ORDER XXX. MALVA'CE^E (plants agreeing with Malva 

 in important characters). Brown, congo. p. 8. Kunth, diss. 

 1822. p. 1. D. C. prod. 1. p. 429. Malvaceae 1, 2, 3. Juss. 

 gen. 271. 



Calyx usually of 5 sepals (f. 84. 6. f. 85. &.), rarely 3-4, 

 more or less connected at the base, valvate in aestivation, usually 

 bearing bracteas at the base (f. 83. a. f. 84. a.), these constitute 

 an outer calyx or involucrum. Petals equal in number to the 

 sepals (f. 83. b. f. 84. c. f. 85. c.) and alternating with them, 

 hypogynous, equal, twisted in aestivation (f. 84. &.), sometimes 

 distinct, but usually adnate to the tube of the stamens at the 

 base. Stamens numerous, definite, but usually indefinite (f. 

 84. d.~) ; filaments connected into a column (f. 84. d.~), un- 

 equal, outer ones shortest ; anthers 1 -celled, kidney-shaped, 

 bursting by a transverse chink. Ovary usually of many 

 carpels (f. 83. e. f. 84. h.) disposed in a whorl around the axis, 

 almost always connected. Styles equal in number with the 

 ovaries, sometimes distinct, -sometimes joined in one, with an equal 

 number of stigmas (f. 84. g.} which are more or less distinct. 



O N. O / 



Carpels sometimes 1-2-seeded, opening by a chink on the inside, 

 sometimes many-seeded, opening by valves and with a dissepi- 

 ment in the middle of each valve, bearing the seeds, some- 

 times nearly free, sometimes connected into a many-celled 

 capsule (f. 83. f. f. 84. h.) sometimes connate, into an anoma- 

 lous kind of berry (f. 85. h. z.). Seeds ovate or somewhat trique- 

 trous, covered by a smooth or villous epidermis (f. 83. g. f. 

 84. t.). Albumen none. Embryo straight, dicotyledonous, 

 with a terete radicle, and yellow twisted cotyledons. Herbs, 

 shrubs, or trees. Leaves alternate, usually stalked, toothed, 

 or lobed. Villi usually stellately branched. Stipulas 2, at the 

 sides of the leaves. Peduncles axillary, 1 or many-flowered, 

 sometimes disposed in terminal racemose spikes in consequence of 

 the upper leaves being absent. This order, before it was dis- 

 membered from Bombacece and Bytlneriacece, contained most of 

 the grandest flowers in nature. Even now the splendour of 

 various species of Althcea, Hibiscus, &c. renders it a very re- 

 markable group of plants, the greater part of which are 



