118 PENTANDRIA— PENTAGYNIA. Linum. 



* Leaves alternate. 



1. L. usitatissimum. Common Flax. 

 Calyx-leaves ovate, acute, with three ribs. Petals crenate. 



Leaves lanceolate, alternate. Stem mostly solitary. 



L, usitatissimum. Linn.Sp.PLZ^l . JTiZW. u. 1. 1533. J7.Br.342. 

 Engl.Bot.vA9.t.\357. Curt. Lond.fasc.b.t. 22. fVoodv. Med. 

 Bot. t.lU. Mart. Rust. t. 133. Hook. Scot. 97. 



L. n. 836. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 373. 



L. sylvestre. Matth. Valgr.v. 1. 375./. 



L. sylvestre, sativum plane referens. Raii Sijn. 362. 



/3 Linum. Camer. Epit. 200./. Bauh. Hist. v. 3. p. 2. 450./. Fuchs. 

 Hist. 471. f. Brunf.v. 1. 170./. Raii Syn. 362. 



L. germanicuni. Trag. Hist. 353. f. 



L. sativum. Ger. Em. 556./. 



In cultivated fields, frequent. 



Annual. July. 



Root slender. Herb very smooth. Stem 18 inches or 2 feet high, 

 round, straight, leafy, corymbose at the summit. Leaves scat- 

 tered, sessile, acute, 3-ribbed, rather glaucous ; the lowermost 

 short and blunt. VI. several, erect, in a corymbose panicle, blue, 

 glossy, veiny. Cal. with 3 prominent ribs, and a membranous 

 irregular margin. 



jS is merely the more luxuriant cultivated state of the same plant. 

 The seeds give out an abundant mucilage to boiling water, and 

 yield by pressure the well-known linseed oil. The fibrous sub- 

 stance of the bark, duly prepared, makes the most delicate £lnd 

 strong vegetable thread that has yet been discovered. All 

 these qualities betray a relationship to the Mallow tribe, or Co- 

 lumniferce ; as the botanical characters bring Linum towards 

 Geranium, rather than to the Caryophyllece. A learned Ger- 

 man botanist, of more technical than practical skill, once pub- 

 lished L. usitatissimum for a new Geranium, as M. L'Heritierj 

 who had a specimen from himj informed me. 



2. h. perenne. Perennial Blue Flax. 



Calyx-leaves obovate, obtuse, obscurely five-ribbed, naked. 



Leaves linear-lanceolate. Stems numerous, ascending. 

 L. perenne. Linn. Sp. PI. 397. Willd. v. 1. 1534. Fl. Br. 343. 



Engl. Bot. v.l.t. 40. Mart. Rust. t. 134, 

 L. calycibus cap^ulisque obtusis, foliis alternis lanceolatis acutis, 



caulibus ramosissimis. Mill. Ic. 111.^. 166./. 2. 

 L. sylvestre casruleum perenne erectius, flore et capitulo majore. 



Raii Syn. 362. 

 jS. L. sylvestre cseruleum perenne procumbens, flore et capitulo 

 - minore. Raii Syn. 362. 



On chalky hills. 



