Linum. LINAGE J3. 89 



persistent sepals imbricated in the bud, these and the stamens hypogynous ; and 

 only a pair of suspended anatropous ovules and seeds in each carpel. Represented 

 solely by the genus 



1. LINUM, Linn. FLAX. 



Parts of the flower 5, except sometimes in the pistil. Filaments monadelphous 

 at the very base, and commonly with a little tooth in each sinus. Styles 5, often 

 united into one below, or in some of ours only 3 or even 2, and distinct : stigmas 

 capitate or oblong : ovary globose, of as many true cells or carpels as styles, but 

 each cell more or less divided into two by a false partition proceeding from the dorsal 

 suture. Capsule splitting in dehiscence through these false partitions, and some- 

 times through the true ones also. Seeds solitary in each half-cell, flattened, ovate, 

 the coat mucilaginous when wetted : embryo large and straight, surrounded by a 

 thin coating of albumen ; the cotyledons flat and broad. Herbs ; with tough fibres 

 in the bark (flax), sessile entire leaves, no stipules or mere glands in their place, and 

 cymose or panicled flowers. 



A genus of 80 or more species, mostly of temperate or warm climates, nearly 20 indigenous to 

 the United States, chiefly to the region west of the Mississippi. The Californian species (with two 

 exceptions) are slender annuals, remarkable for having only two or three pistils, and forming a 

 peculiar section. 



L. USITATISSIMUM, Linn., the common Flax of cultivation, may sometimes be found near fields. 

 It is an annual, with linear-lanceolate very acute leaves, blue flowers, 1-nerved sepals, and a 

 globose acuminate capsule. 



1. Styles of the same member as the other parts of the flower : perennials : leaves 



alternate. 



1. L. perenne, Linn. Smooth and glaucous, 1 to 2| feet high, branching 

 above, leafy: leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, 3 to 18 lines long, acute; stipular 

 glands none : flowers large, blue, in few-flowered corymbs or scattered on the leafy 

 branches, on slender pedicels : sepals 3-5-nerved, ovate, acute or obtuse, 1^ to 2^ 

 lines long : capsule globose, acute, exceeding the sepals, at length dehiscent by ten 

 valves, the prominent false partition long-ciliate : fruiting pedicels erect or deflexed. 

 L. decurrens, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. Acad. iii. 44, fig. 11. 



Common on dry soils nearly throughout the State, the species ranging from the Arctic Circle, 

 along the Rocky Mountains and westward, to Northern Mexico. It is also common in Europe 

 and Northern Asia. 



2. L. aristatum, Engelm. Smooth, J to 3 feet high ; branches numerous, 

 slender, angular: leaves few, linear to subulate, awned, 2 to 4 lines long; the upper 

 and the bracts, as well as the sepals, ciliate-denticulate on the scarious margins ; 

 stipular glands conspicuous : flowers mostly solitary on the branchlets, sulphur- 

 yellow, an inch broad : sepals linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 3-nerved, 4 lines long : 

 capsule ovate, acute, half as long, 5-valved and 10-celled, the false partitions meni- 

 branaceous : seeds small. Wisliz. Eep. 1 7. 



Sandy hills along the Colorado (Newberry) ; eastward to New Mexico and S. Utah. The only 

 other North American yellow-flowered perennial is L. Kinqii, Watson, of the mountains of 

 Utah. 



2. Styles and carpels fewer than the otJier parts of the flower, 2 or 3 : capsules 

 ^-celled or ^-celled : sepals 1-nerved : annuals. HESPEROLINON, Gray. 



* Leaves opposite, oblong : styles 2 : petals not appendaged at base, yellow. 



3. L. digynum, Gray. Glabrous, six inches high, simple, subcymosely branched 

 at the summit : leaves oblong, acutish, 3 to 6 lines long ; stipular glands none : 



