348 LINACEAE. [VOL. II. 



Family 52. LINACEAE Dumort. Comm. Bot 61. 1822. 



FI,AX FAMILY. 



Herbs, or shrubs, with alternate or opposite leaves, and perfect regular nearly 

 symmetrical flowers. Stipules mostly small or none. Sepals 5, rarely 4, im- 

 bricated, persistent. Petals of the same number and alternate with the sepals, 

 imbricated, generally contorted. Stamens of the same number, alternate with 

 the petals; filaments monadelphous at the base; anthers versatile, 2-celled. 

 Ovary i, 2-5-celled, or by false septa 4-io-celled. Ovules anatropous. Styles 

 2-5. Fruit mainly capsular. Seeds 1-2 in each cavity, oily; endosperm little 

 or none; embryo straight; cotyledons flat. 



Four known genera and about 150 species of wide geographic distribution in temperate and 

 tropical regions. 



i. LINUM L. Sp. PI. 277. 1753. 



Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes woody at the base, with alternate or opposite, 

 rarely verticillate, sessile leaves, and perfect flowers. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, 

 cymose, racemose or paniculate. Stipules a pair of glands, or wanting. Sepals 5. Petals 

 5, fugacious. Stamens 5, monadelphous, sometimes with interspersed staminodia. Ovary 

 4-5-celled, or 8-iocelled by false partitions, the real cavities 2-ovuled. Capsule 5-io-valved. 

 [The classical Latin name.] 



About 90 species, natives of temperate or warm regions. In addition to the following some 17 

 others occur in the southern and western parts of the United States. 



X- Flowers blue. 



1. L. usilatissiminn. 



2. L. Leivisii. 



Annual; introduced; capsule about as long as the calyx. 

 Perennial; western; capsule much exceeding the calyx. 



* Flowers yellow. 

 Capsules i"-iH" long. 



Leaves and bracts entire. 



Stem nearly terete, corymbosely branched; usually only the lowest leaves opposite. 

 Leaves thin, oblong or oblanceolate, spreading. 3. L. V'irginianum. 



Leaves firm, appressed-ascending. 



Capsule depressed-globose, i high. 4. L. medium. 



Capsule ovoid, i H high. 5. L. Floridanum. 



Stem angled, racemosely branched; leaves below the branches mostly all opposite. 



6. L. slriatum. 



Upper leaves and bracts glandular-ciliate. 7. L. sulcatinii. 



Capsules 2"-2#" long. 8. L. rigidum. 



# # * Flowers white, small, long-pedicelled. 9. L. catliarticum. 



i. Linum usitatissimum L. Flax. 

 Lint-bells. Linseed. (Fig. 2258.) 



Linum usilatissimum L. Sp. PI. 277. 1753. 



Annual, often tufted, erect, branching 

 above, I2 / -2O / high, glabrous and somewhat 

 glaucous. Stem terete, striate, the branches 

 slightly angular; leaves alternate, 3-nerved, 

 lanceolate, l / 2 '-i^ long, i"-3" wide, acute 

 or acuminate; stipules none; inflorescence a 

 terminal cymose leafy panicle; flowers blue, 

 6//_8// broad; pedicels slender; sepals oval, 

 acuminate, the interior ones ciliate and 3- 

 ribbed; petals obcuncate, crenulate, twice 

 the length of the sepals; capsule ovoid- 

 conic, $"-4" long, equalling or somewhat 

 exceeding the sepals, indehiscent, incom- 

 pletely lo-celled, the septa not ciliate; seeds 

 compressed. 



Along roadsides, railways and in waste places, 

 fugitive from Europe or from cultivation. 

 Called also Flix, Lin, Lint. Summer. 



Linum humile Mill. Card. Diet. No. 2, variously regarded by authors as a distinct species or a 

 variety or form of the Common Flax, may be distinguished by its dehiscent capsule with ciliate 

 septa. It is rarely met with in our area in similar situations. Both have been cultivated since 

 prehistoric times for their fibre and oil. Their origin is unknown. 



