452 LINUM. [CLASS V. ORDER T. 



GENUS CI. LI'NUM.— Linn. Flax. 



Nat. Ord. Li'ne^. De Cand. 



Gen. Char. Cahjx of live persisteut pieces. Corolla of five petals. 

 Stamens united at the base into a ring, witli intermediate teeth 

 opposite the petals, (abortive stamens). Capsule globose, pointed 

 with the indurated base of the style, ten valved, and ten celled. 

 Seeds ovate, compressed. — Named, according to Th^is, from Lin, 

 thread in Celtic. 



* Leaves alternate. 

 1. L. usitatis^simian, Linn. (Fig. 514.) Common Flax. Stem erect, 

 mostly solitary, branched upwards ; leaves lanceolate, smooth ; sepals 

 ovate, acute, three ribbed;. petals crenate. 



English Botany, t. 1357. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 118. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 150. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 53. 



/9. lineafolium. (Fig. 515.) Leaves narrow, linear, and the whole 

 plant small. 



Root slender, tapering, branched. Stem erect, from two to three 

 feet high, solitary, sometimes two from the same root, round, smooth, 

 finely striated, leafy, slender, mostly much branched in the upper part, 

 the branches erect, or slightly spreading. Leaves lanceolate, quite 

 smooth, a bright cheerful green, sessile, alternate, with three parallel 

 nearly equal ribs, uniting at the point with numerous slender reticu- 

 lated branches, the lower leaves mostly shorter than the upper, obtuse 

 at the point. Lnjlorescence a leafy panicle. Flowers solitary, on 

 slender terminal and lateral peduncles, large, fine purplish blue. 

 Calyx of five ovate acute sepals, green, with a pale membranous 

 margin, somewhat ciliated, a mid-rib, and two lateral ones, about half 

 as long as the sepal. Corolla of five broadly ovate petals, tapering at 

 the base into a claw, the margin irregularly crenated, with numerous 

 branched veins. Stamens shorter than the corolla, on slender awl- 

 shaped ^^ame/i^s, which are united round the germen in a narrow ring, 

 and between each filament is a small tooth, opposite the petals, which 

 are abortive stamens. Anthers oblong. Styles thread-shaped, erect, 

 as long as the stamens, with blunt somewhat capitate stigmas. Capsule 

 globose, smooth, pointed with the indurated base of the styles, formed 

 of ten valves, and divided with thin membranous partitions into ten 

 cells, each cell containing an ovate compressed seed, smooth, shining, 

 brown. £'m6r?/o straight, and the co^y/et/ons flat. 



Habitat. — Corn fields and road sides ; not uufrequent, but probably 

 introduced, though now naturalized. 

 Annual ; flowering in July. 



Common Flax is one of the most useful of our plants ; it is, in fact, 

 called L. usitalissimum, from the great uses to which its various parts 



