298 THE ALPINE FLORA 



Linear 



Herbaceous plants with simple leaves; flowers regular, 

 with five persistent sepals, five petals, five stamens, five 

 styles and a superior ovary only attached at the base. 



Linum 



Eng. : Flax; Fr. : Lin ; Gr. : Leinkraut. 



L. alpinum (PI. XXV). Stems divided toward the top, 

 bearing many, narrow leaves; widely separated flowers 

 along and at the apex of the branches, in a very loose 

 cyme, the corolla large, of a lilac-blue. June- August. 

 Meadows in the Alps and Jura. 



L. tenuifolium differs in its shorter and slenderer stems, 

 longer and narrower leaves, roughened on the edges, 

 and, above all, by the lilac-rose tint of its fugacious 

 corollas. Grows on the warm and sunniest slopes among 

 the foothills. 



All the flaxes are of marked elegance and light, feathery 

 growth. Both the alpines, however, though useful rockery 

 plants, are inferior to the garden varieties known as flavum 

 and narbonense, with which and perenne and sibericum any 

 ordinary collection may be satisfied. All enjoy full sun 

 and flower from June to winter without attention. Easily 

 multiplied by cuttings or seed. 



