THE FLAX FAMILY, 377 



all the Cyclamens, Arachis hypogcea, and others ; and in the 

 case of Yuccas and Palms this power seems vested in the seeds 

 themselves, or rather in that portion of the seed which repre- 

 sents the young plant. It seems probable to me that the seeds 

 of Yuccas and Palms are especially fitted for germination in 

 dry or barren soils ; inasmuch as where soft seeds, which vege- 

 tate in the ordinary manner, would be dried up, these are pro- 

 tected from drought by a hard horny coat, and have the 

 power of throwing out the embryo and of pressing it down 

 into the soil, while at the same time it is amply fed by the 

 albuminous pabulum stored up under the seed-coats until the 

 roots can strike down deep enough to draw up food and 

 moisture. 



THE FLAX FAMILY (Linacece). 



A small group of annual, perennial, herbaceous, or sub- 

 shrubby plants, principally natives oPEurope and North Africa. 

 De Candolle remarks that this group is intermediate between 

 Cloveworts, Mallows, and Cranesbills. One species, L. usitat- 

 issimum, is much cultivated for its tough fibre and diuretic 

 seeds, which forms the basis of the " oilcake " used for cattle- 

 feeding purposes, after the oil (linseed) has been expressed. 



Linum (Flax\ A genus of annual or sub-shrubby plants, 

 represented in our gardens by L. grandiflorum, L. trigynum, 

 and others; while the common Flax, from the fibre of which our 

 linen is prepared, has been cultivated for ages. It is one of 

 the first plants mentioned in the Bible, and has been discov- 

 ered in a manufactured state in the most ancient of Egyptian 

 tombs. Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is now only known in a 

 cultivated state, or has become so altered as to be unrecognis- 

 able. Mr Baker thus writes on this subject in his ' Botanical 

 Geography,' p. 87 : " One of the most noteworthy points about 

 the common plants of cultivation is that many of the common- 

 est and best-known so-called specific types, as the Sugar-cane, 

 Wheat, Oat, Tomato, Artichoke, Tobacco, Gossypium her- 

 baceum, and G. barbadense, are totally unknown anywhere in a 

 wild state. But of all these, what are called distinct species of 

 the same genus are known ; and it can scarcely be doubted, 

 judging from the amount of variation which we see in types of 

 which the origin is known, such as the Cabbage, Apple, Pear, 

 and Cherry" (Carrot, Parsnip, &c.), " that the original types of 

 these others are not really lost, as was commonly supposed till 

 lately, but that an amount of change, equivalent to that of an 



