Description of False Flax. 165 



(2) FALSE FLAX. 



False flax (Camelina saliva), sometimes 

 known as wild flax, has probably gained its 

 name from the prevalent, but mistaken, 

 notion that it has originated in the degen- 

 eracy of cultivated flax, whereas cultivated 

 flax is a plant of another order. False flax 

 usually grows to the height of about eigh- 

 teen inches, but sometimes it grows consid- 

 erably higher. Where the seeds have been 

 shed numerously the previous year around 

 some parent stem, it frequently comes up 

 so thickly that some of the plants cannot 

 grow more than a few inches above the 

 ground. In the earlier stages of its growth 

 false flax is somewhat leafy, but after its 

 blossoming stage is passed the upper por- 

 tions of the plant consist mainly of stems 

 and seed pods, as shown in the sketch. The 

 blossoms are small, and of a pale yellow 

 color. 



Ordinarily, false flax is classed as an 

 annual, although it usually commences to 

 grow in the later portions of the year previ- 

 ous to that in which the seeds are matured. 

 False flax is very hardy, and can withstand 

 considerable frost. Its seeds, which are 



