COMMON FLAX. 96 



Common Flax (Linum usitatissimum). 



Occasionally the rambler will find the Flax in cornfields and 

 wastes, by oil-mills and in the neighbourhood of railway 

 stations. Wherever it may be found it is an escape from 

 cultivation. As a truly wild plant the " most used " flax is not 

 known : in cultivation, as the parent of linen garments, it has 

 been known from the infancy of the human race. To-day the 

 exports of flax and linen from the United Kingdom are worth 

 about ^5,500,000 per annum. It is therefore a plant that 

 would be entitled to respectful consideration when we meet 

 it, even if it had no grace or beauty to commend it to us. 



Common Flax is an annual plant, with erect slender stems 

 about a foot and a half high. Its narrow lance-shaped leaves 

 are arranged alternately and at a distance from each other. 

 The flowers are large, and purplish-blue in colour. Five is the 

 number dominating the structure of the flower : sepals, petals, 

 stamens, glands, ovary (5 cells), styles all in fives. It flowers 

 in June and July. 



There are three other species that are truly wild in 

 Britain : 



I. Purging Flax (L. cathariicum). A smaller species, half a foot high, with 

 white flowers, affecting heaths and pastures. It has opposite, very narrow leaves, 

 and the unopened buds nod. Flowers June to September. 



II. Perennial Flax (L. perenne). A very rare perennial plant with exceedingly 

 narrow leaves, alternate on the numerous wiry stems. Plant about 2 feet high. 

 The large bright-blue flowers, which may be found from June to September, are of 

 two forms, long-styled and short -styled, like the Primroses (see p. 2), and for a similar 

 purpose. On chalky soils from Durham to Essex. 



III. Narrow-leaved Flax (L. angustifolium). Leaves alternate, as narrow as in 

 the last species, but smaller and not so plentiful. Flowers smaller and paler, petals 

 smaller in proportion to the calyx. Flowers May to September. Sandy and 

 chalky pastures, not farther north than Lancashire. 



