578 FLORA. 



2257.) Foliage bright green. Stem 3-12 dm. tall, simple or nearly so; leaves 

 3.5-8 cm. broad; leaflets with brown margins more or less ciliate; petioles villous, 

 hardly dilated at the base; pedicels 1-1.4 long; sepals ovate or oblong, 4-6 mm. 

 long, often ciliate at the apex; corolla deep yellow, 1.5-2.5 cm. broad; petals 

 rounded at the apex; capsule ovoid or ovoid-oblong; seeds 2 mm. long, with 

 prominent broken transverse ridges. On river banks, Penn. to 111., N. Car. and 

 Ala. May-Aug. 



Family 3. LIN ACE AE Dumort. 

 Flax Family. 



Herbs, or shrubs, with perfect regular nearly symmetrical flowers. 

 Stipules mostly small or none. Sepals 5, rarely 4, imbricated, 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 ; en- 

 dosperm little or none ; embryo straight ; cotyledons flat. Four known 

 genera and about 1 50 species of wide distribution. 



I. LlNUM L. 



Herbs, sometimes woody at the base, with sessile leaves, and perfect flowers. 

 Inflorescence cymose, racemose or paniculate. Stipules a pair of glands, or want 

 ing. Sepals 5. Petals 5, fugacious. Stamens 5, sometimes with interspersed 

 staminodia. Ovary 4~5-celled, or 8-io-celled 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 U. S. 



* Flowers blue. 



Annual ; introduced ; capsule about as long as the calyx. i. L. usitatissimum. 



Perennial ; western ; capsule much exceeding the calyx. 2. L. Lewisii. 



* * Flowers yellow. 

 Capsules 2-3 mm. long. 



Leaves and bracts entire. 



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

 opposite. 



Leaves thin, oblong or oblanceolate, spreading. 3. L. Virginianum. 

 Leaves firm, appressed-ascending. 



Capsule depressed-globose, 2 mm. high. 4. L, medium. 

 Capsule ovoid, 3 mm. high. 5. L. Floridanum. 



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



opposite. 6. L. striatum. 



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



Capsules 4-5 mm. long. 8. L. rigidum. 



* * * Flowers white, small, long-pedicelled. 



9. L. catharticum. 



1. Linum usitatissimum L. FLAX. LINSEED. (I. F. f. 2258.) Often 

 tufted, branching above, 3-5 dm. high; leaves alternate, 3-nerved, lanceolate, 

 1.25-3.75 cm. long, 2-6 mm. wide; inflorescence a terminal cymose leafy panicle; 

 flowers i. 2-1. 6 cm. broad; pedicels slender; sepals oval, acuminate, the interior 

 ones ciliate and 3-ribbed; petals obcuneate, crenulate, twice the length of the 

 sepals; capsule ovoid-conic, 6-8 mm. long, indehiscent, the septa not ciliate. 

 Along roadsides, and in waste places, fugitive from cultivation. Summer. 



Linum hiimile Mill., 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 culti- 

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



2. Linum Lewisii Pursh. LEWIS' WILD FLAX. (I. F. f. 2259.) Perennial, 

 3-6 dm. high, glaucous, densely tufted, simple up to the cymose inflorescence. 



