92 FLAX FAMILY. 



XXIV. LINACEJS, FLAX FAMILY. 



Herbs (rarely shrubs) with regular and symmetrical flowers ; 

 sepals 5, imbricated ; petals 5, convolute ; stamens 5, their fila- 

 ments united at the base ; ovary with as many cells as there 

 are styles ; pod with twice as many, through the growth of a 

 false partition. 



1. LINUM. Seeds with a mucilaginous coat and a large, straight, oily embryo ; styles and 



cells of the ovary 5 ; leaves simple, nearly sessile, narrow, and entire ; stipules 0, or 

 gland-like ; flowers (Lessons, p. 11, Figs. 1-4, p. 14, Figs. 9 and 10, p. 95, Fig. 270, 

 and p. 98, Fig. 281) usually opening for only one day and in sunshine, all summer. 

 Hardy. (J) or 1\. 



2. REINWABDTIA.. Styles and cells of the ovary 3-4; leaves broad; stipules minute, 



awl-shaped, falling early. Greenhouse shrubs, with showy yellow flowers. 



1. LINUM, FLAX. (The classical name.) Ours are slender herbs, 

 with flowers (often minute) of short duration. 



* Wild species, annuals or scarcely perennials, with yellow flowers. 

 <- Sepals and bracts entire. 



L. Virginianum, Linn. The commonest WILD FLAX in dry woods, 2 

 high, spreading or recurving branches, terete and even ; leaves oblong or 

 lanceolate, only the lower spatulate and opposite ; flowers scattered ; 

 styles distinct ; pod little larger than a pin's head. 



L. Floridanum, Trelease. Found in 111., Va., and S., is more strict, 

 with broadly ovate and obtuse pods. 



L. striatum, Walt. Like the first ; but has the branches short and 

 sharply 4-angled, with intermediate grooves (whence the name) ; most of 

 the stem-leaves opposite and oblong; flowers more crowded. Wet 

 grounds, Mass, and Can., S. 



*- *- Sepals and bracts conspicuously serrulate with glandular-bristly 



L. sulcatum, Riddell. Branches upright, grooved ; leaves linear and 

 scattered ; a pair of dark glands in place of stipules ; sepals sharp-pointed, 

 3-nerved ; styles united half-way up. Dry soil, Mass, to Minn, and S. W. 



L. rlgidum, Pursh. Usually low, glaucous ; branches rigid ; calyx 

 finally falling off ; the flowers rather large. Miss. River, W. 



* * Cultivated, hardy, herbaceous, with largish handsome flowers. 



L. usitatissimum, Linn. COMMON FLAX. Leaves narrow-lanceolate ; 

 flowers corymbose, rich blue ; sepals pointed, ciliate ; stigmas slender, 

 club-shaped. Old World, and inclined to run wild. Extensively 

 cult, for the seeds and fiber. 



L. perenne. Linn. PERENNIAL FLAX. Narrower leaved ; sepals blunt, 

 sometimes erose, but not ciliate ; petals sky-blue, but there are pink and 

 white forms ; stigmas oblong-capitate. Jl Cult, from Eu. in some vari- 

 eties for ornament ; a variety also native beyond the Mississippi. 



L. grand 'ifldrum, Desf. RED FLAX. 1 high, with linear or lanceo- 

 late leaves and showy, crimson-red flowers ; sepals and bracts ciliate-ser- 

 rulate. Jl Cult, as a hardy annual ; from North Africa. 



2. REINWARDTIA. (For K. G. K. Eeinwardt, a botanist of Leyden 

 in the early part of this century.) y. 



