THE FLAX FAMILY. 289 



grows in low pine barrens where we cannot but aiisociaic with it a liiiie of 

 the fame of its old world relative. For from almost time immemorial 

 members of the genus have been cultivated for their line fibre and oil. No 

 one indeed can name a date so distant as when Linum usitatissimum was 

 introduced into Egypt. Tha linen made from it was one of the features of 

 luxury and also a great source of wealth. Priests in the temple wore it 

 instead of woollens because it was more distasteful to vermin. One of 

 Isaiah's strong denunciations, it will be remembered, was that " the Fgypliau 

 workers of fine flax should be confounded." 



L. Virginidmim, wild flax, or slender yellow flax, occurs from Florida 

 northward along shaded waysides, or in many wet places. It also i)ears yel- 

 low flowers, rather small and which grow in leafy, corymbose panicles. A 

 good deal branched is the stem near its summit and when many small cap- 

 sules are scattered among the lanceolate and bright green sjireading leaves 

 it has more than ever the appearance of an open, seedy grass. 



THE CALTROP FAMILY. 



Zygophyllacac. 



A family including tropical trees with 7iotably hard 7UOod, and shrubs 

 and herbs with mostly opposite^ pinnate, or tiao to three foliate, stipulate 

 leaves and regular^ perfect flowers which have their stajuens inserted on 

 the receptacle. 



LIGNUM=VIT^ TREE. {Plate LXXXIX.) 

 Guaiacuni sanctum. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



CaUrop. Cro-tun rounded : brafiches 20-2,0 feet. Keys 0/ Florida. .If-ii.'. 



drooping. 



Bark: grey, almost white, separating into small scales. Brnnctn's : ioxVc^, 

 swollen at the nodes, pubescent when young. Zt'^r^^J .* with broadly acuminate, 

 l^ointed stipules; abruptly pinnate with from six to ten pairs of ohli(iucly «)l)Iong, 

 sessile leaflets, entire, pubescent when young and becoming at maturity glabrous 

 and lustrous on both sides ; thick, lasting over the winter. Fttnofrs : blue ; soli- 

 tary or usually a few together, growing on j^ubescent jiecluncles at the end of the 

 branches and from the axils of the uppermost leaves. Ci/vx : with five deciduous 

 sepals, their divisions unecpial and slightly pubescent on the outer surface. 

 Pc-id/s : five, obovate. StanwHs ; ten; filaments, naked. Fruit : obovate ; orange- 

 colour ; the valves somewhat fleshy. 



It seems as though the very air had turned to azure of an iiitenscncss 



almost felt when this small tree takes advantage of the warm, hazy air of 



