THE MOUNTAIN FLAX. 307 



MOUNTAIN FLAX, MILMOUNTAIN. 



Llnum catharticum. 

 Welsh, Llin y tylwyth tg, Llin y munnydd. 



NATURAL. 



Pentandria. Linece. 



Pentagynia. 



IN Wales the elegant little mountain flax is called 

 " Llin y tylwyth teg/' or Fairy's flax.* Whether 

 any attempt has ever been made to spin it by 

 mortal hands I know not, but the slender stem, 

 when snapped across or slowly stretched, exhibits 

 the same fibrous threads by which all the tribe are 

 distinguished ; and which in this plant are remark- 

 able for extreme delicacy with which minuteness 

 and strength are united ; so that if the fairies did 

 spin and we have the authority of old chroniclers 

 and bards without number for supposing that they 

 did we may very well fancy their gossamer robes 

 to have been fabricated from this plant, even though 

 it might not have produced a web which should 

 quite vie with the " woven wind " of old. 



It must frequently occur to the reflective mind 

 that there is an innate disposition in the human 

 heart to trace to some higher intelligence the know- 



* Literally flax of the Fair family. 



