39 LINUM USITATISSIMUM 



upper end ; testa bright brown, smooth, shining ; embryo green, 

 occupying almost the whole seed, surrounded with a very thin 

 layer of endosperm ; cotyledons large, flat ; radicle straight, 

 superior. 



Habitat. The native country of the cultivated Flax is impos- 

 sible to determine, and its cultivation reaches back to the 

 remotest periods of history. It readily escapes, and is found in 

 a quasi- wild condition in all the countries where it is grown, but 

 is nowhere known as truly spontaneous. It is possible, as 

 supposed by Prof. Heer, that it is a cultivated race developed 

 from L. angustifolium, Huds., a frequent wild plant in southern 

 and western Europe (including England), the plants known as 

 L. ambiguum, Jord., 'L. hyemale romanum and L. humile, Mill., 

 being the successive connecting links. De Candolle suggests 

 that more than one species have been in cultivation. The plant 

 cultivated in India is stated to have some characters of L. Jiumile, 

 Mill. Flax is now extensively cultivated in both temperate and 

 tropical climates, e. g. in Russia, Egypt, throughout India, the 

 United States, the south of Europe, Holland, and England. In 

 this country it frequently occurs by roadsides and in waste 

 ground, but is nowhere permanent. 



Syme, E. B., ii, p. 184; Hook, f., Stud. Fl., p. 74; Watson, Comp. 

 Cyb. Br., p. 493; Lowe, Fl. Mad., i, p. 98 ; Oliv., Fl. Trop. Afr., 

 i, p. 268 ; Hook, f., Fl. Brit. Ind., i, p. 411 ; Journal of Botany, 

 1874, p. 87 ; Lindley, Fl. Med., p. 129. 



Official Parts and Names. 1. LINI SEMINA; the seeds: 2. 

 LINI FARINA ; the cake of linseed from which the oil has been 

 pressed, reduced to powder : 3. OLEUM LINI ; the oil expressed 

 without heat from Linseed (B. P.). The seeds (Lini Semina] 

 (I. P.). 1. LINUM, Flaxseed ; the seed: 2. LINI FAKINA ; the 

 meal prepared from the seed : 3. OLEUM LINI ; the fixed oil 

 obtained from the seed (U. S. P.). 



1. LINI SEMINA. Linseed is imported into this country in 

 enormous quantities, chiefly from Russia and India, but to 

 some extent also from Germany, Holland, and other countries. 

 Thus, the total value of imports from Russia in 1872 was about 



