THE FLAX TRIBE. 



163 



" If you admired a solitary plant, you would be 

 delighted with such large 

 fields of flax as I saw in 

 my journey from Ham- 

 burgh to Dresden. The i 

 tender green of such fields 

 pleasantly brought back 

 the remembrance of 

 spring, at a time when 

 the corn harvest was be- 

 ing gathered in. To the 

 same tribe belongs a 

 pretty little plant called 

 Flax-seed, very delicate 

 in its structure. The tribe 

 consists of annual or per- 

 ennial plants or even small 

 shrubs. The tenacity of 

 the fibre, and the oily 

 nature of the seeds are FLAX . (Limm US i ta tum.) 

 common to them all, and make these apparently 

 insignificant plants highly useful and important 

 Not far from these comes the CRANE'S-BILL or 

 GERANIUM tribe. 



Mary was well acquainted with the pretty little 



