GERANIUM FAMILY. 77 



26. LINAGES, FLAX FAMILY. 



A small family, represented here only by the main genus, 



1. LINUM, FLAX. (The classical Greek and Latin name.) Flowers (see 

 Lessons, p. 89, fig. 174, 175, and p. 93, fig. 191) usually opening- for only- 

 one day, and in sunshine, regular and symmetrical ; the persistent sepals, 

 deciduous petals, slightly monadelphous stamens, and mostly the styles 5, hut 

 the latter are sometimes fewer, occasionally partly united : ovary and pod 

 with as many 2-secdcd cells as there are styles, or mostly twice as 'many and 

 one-seeded, each cell being divided more or less by a false partition. Seeds 

 with a mucilaginous coat and a large straight oily embryo. Leaves simple, 

 nearly sessile, and entire. Fl. all summer. 



* Wild species, annuals or scarcely perennials, with small yellow flowers. 

 L. Virginianum, the commonest WILD FLAX, in dry woods, 2 high, 



with spreading or recurving terete branches at the summit" of the stem ; the 



leaves oblong or lanceolate, only the lower spatulate and opposite ; flowers 



scattered ; styles separate ; pod little larger than a pin's head. 



L. striatum, also common, mostly in boggy grounds, like the first; but 



has the branches shorter, scattered along the stem, and sharply 4-angled with 



intermediate grooves (whence the name) ; most of the stem-leaves opposite and 



oblong ; flowers more crowded. 



L. SUlcatum, much less common, in dry soil, also has grooved (upright) 



branches, but the leaves are linear and scattered ; flowers and pods twice as 



large ; sepals sharp-pointed, 3-nerved and with rough glandular margins ; styles 



united half-way up. 



* * Cultivated, hardy, herbaceous, with 5 styles and largish handsome flowers. 

 Pt*JC- L. USitatissimum, COMMON FLAX. Cult, from Old World, and inclined ^"**4r < * 

 . ,c.ofrto run wild in fields ; with narrow lanceolate leaves, corymbose rich blue flow- J ^*^T 

 //-ers, and pointed sepals. 



L. perenne, Pi KI.NMAL FLAX. Cult, from Eu. in some varieties, for 

 ornament, wild beyond the Mississippi ; less tall than the foregoing, narrower- 

 leaved ; sepals blunt ; petals sky-blue, sometimes pale, at least towards the 

 base. Jl 



L. grandiflbriim, LAKGE-FL. RED FLAX. Cult as an annual, from 

 North Africa ; 1 high, with linear or lanceolate leaves, and showy crimson-red 

 flowers. ^ 



# * * Cultivated in conservatories, shrubby, with 3 styles and large, flowers. 

 L. trigynum, of India, has rather large elliptical leaves, and a. succession 

 of large and showy bright-yellow flowers. 



27. GERANIACEJE, GERANIUM FAMILY. 



As now received a large and multifarious order, not to be char- 

 acterized as a whole in any short and ca^y way, including as it does 

 Geraniums, Nasturtiums, Wood-Sorrels, Balsams, &c., which have 

 to be separately described. 



1. Flowers regular and symmetrical: sepals persistent. Herbs. 



1. OXALIS. Sepals and petals 5, the former imbricated, the latter convolute in 



the bud. Stamens 10, monadelphous at base, the alternate ones shorter. 

 Styles 5, separate on a 5-celled ovary, which becomes a membranaceous 

 several-seeded pod. Juice sour and 'watery. Leaves commonly of three 

 obcordate or two-lobed leaflets, which droop at nightfall. Flowers usually 

 open only in sunshine. 



2. LIMNAN THKS. Sepals and petals 5, the former valvate, the latter convolute 



in the bud. Glands on the receptacle 5. Stamens 10, separate at the base. 

 Style 1, five-lobed at the apex, rising from the centre of a deeply five-lobed 

 ovary, which in fruit becomes 5 separate thickish and wrinkled akenes. 

 Leaves pinnate ; the leaflets cut or cleft. 



