LINAGES. 59 



floTver has a Tvell-dcveloped contorted corolla with five or ten 

 monadelphous stamens, and whose ovules are descendent, with 

 exterior and superior micropyle capped by an obtiu-ator, are also 

 as nearly as possible related to the Linece and to certain Hugoniece ; 

 but in this case they are plants like Jatroplia, very often milky, and 

 always with unisexual flowers, and imiovulate ovary cells, a tri- 

 coccate fruit, and an abundant albumen in the seeds. The Houmiriece 

 are frequently, but not ^always, characterised by the form of the 

 anthers, and they have been compared to the Ehenacece ^ and to the 

 3Ieliacc(e, with uni- or biovulate cells ; but from the former they 

 are clearly distinguished by their polypetalous corolla, their prte- 

 floratiou, their ovules with superior and exterior micropyle, and 

 their (frupes with thick hard stone ; and fr-om the latter by then- 

 stamens not being united in a tube which is often elongated, and by 

 then- leaves being always simple."^ 



The most useful of these plants is, without dispute, the cultivated 

 Flax ^ (fig. 69-75). It furnishes, much more than any other species * 

 of the genus, that textile fibre constituted by the fibrous fascicles 

 of its liber, separated, by steeping, fr'om the other parts of the stem 

 and bark, and especially remarkable for its flexibility and tenacity. 

 The seeds when gi-ound are also of very great service, unwholesome 

 indeed to eat, but constantly used in the preparation of poultices. 

 From the embryo and albumen or the seeds is also extracted a drying. 



1 See Adaiisotiia, i. 210. ser. 2, ii. 596. — Bess. Om. Liiis Plant (Stockh. 



- The JoM)«iViV(S have also affinities with the 1738)'. — Berch. Xatr. sok/is Ziii-sddc (Ups. 



Chleeiiacem, which is explained by their relation 1753). — Kalm. Om del grona Lin. (Vicenz. 



to the 2Vr«s<ra!«!iafcff?, from which the CAtewBCfrt! 1783).^Gadd. Aiini om im-oc/i (Abo. 1786). — 



are scarcely distinct (see Adansonia^ he. cit.). Trecco. Colt, e gov. del Lino. (Vicenz. 1792). — 



But we do not think they could be united to the Nag. XTnterr. ziim Leinbau. (Munch. 1831). — • 



Ericacea; as proposed by Lixdley ( Vcg. Kiiigd. Veit. A»l. ziim Leinbau. (Augsb. 1841).- — BAXEit, 



447). Fl.Muurit.Zo—L.arvensc'SECs.. Gall. 159.— 



' Liiiiim milttlissimnm L. Spee. 397. — Tratt. i. sativum Blacw. Herb. t. 160. 

 Tab. t. 144.— DC. Prodr. i. 426, n. 29.— 5Ier. ■< Textile fibres are also prepared from the 



et Del. Diet. Mat. Med. iv. 123. — Exdl. En- stems of L. austriaeum L., mtiriiimum L., 



ehirid. 623.— DucH. Rep. 229. — LixDL. Fl. Med. lerennc L. (Zih de Siberie), anglieum L., et humik 



129 ; Veg. Kingd. 485.^GuiB. Dmg. Simpl. ed. 3IiLL. en Europe, Zeteisii Pchsh. In North 



6, iii. 651, fig. 746. — Rich. ^/e'»(. ed. 4,ii. 493, t. America. (Upon the stem structure of the 



90.— RosENTH. Sgn. PI. Diap/ior. 892.— Ret. in Flaxes, see Li.\K. JSlem. Phil. Jiot. (1837), t. 2. 



Fl. Med. du XIX« Sidc/e, ii. 239.— Caz. PI. Mid. —Rmss. Die Favrgew.dex Leine^ (extr. 2»<hAsc/()-. 



Ind. c'd. 3, 539.— H. B.v. in Tl'et. Encgcl. Sc. M(d. Akai. TFissense/t. Wieii, c. icon.). 



