166 XXV. LINE^. 



1. LINUM, Linn. 



(From Linon, the old Greek name.) 



Sepals 5. Petals 5, contorted, without appendages. Stamens 5, perfect ; 

 staminodia as many, alternating with the stamens, minute, tooth-like or hair- 

 like, or sometimes scarcely conspicuous. Glands 5, small, scarcely prominent on 

 the staminal tube, opposite the petals. Ovary 5-celled, with 2 collateral ovules in 

 each cell. Capsule dividing into 5 cocci, with 2 seeds in each separated by an 

 imperfect partition, or into 10 1-seeded cocci when the partition is more complete. 

 Albumen thin. — Herbs. Leaves narrow, entire. Stipules none or minute and 

 gland-like. 



A large genus, widely distributed over the temperate or warmer extratropical regions of the 

 clobe, with a few tropical American species. The Australian species are endemic, but very 

 glosely allied to some of the commonest blue-flowered species of the northern hemisphere. — Benth. 



Sepals acute or acuminate. Styles free . . . . 1. L. usitatissimum. 



Sepals acute or acuminate. Styles united to above the middle . . . 2. L. marginale. 



Sepals very obtuse . ... , S. L. sucedccfoliuvi. 



Mowers small, yellow . . . . 4. i. gallicum. 



*1. Xi. usitatissimum (most useful), Lirew. An erect annual 2 to -Ift. high. 

 Stem cylindrical, simple or corymbosely branched above. Leaves linear or 

 lanceolate, narrow, sub-3-nerved, without stipular glands. Flowers blue, lin. 

 diameter, in broad cymes. Sepals ovate-acuminate, margins white, 3-nerved, 

 eglandular, margins ciliate or not. Styles quite free, stigmas linear-clavate. 

 Capsule scarcely exceeding the sepals. 



Hab.: Europe. A stray from cultivation. 



2. Ii, marginale (alluding to scarious border of sepals), A. Cunn.; Planch, in 

 Hook. Land. Journ. vii. 169 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 283. A glabrous herb, 

 forming a thick perennial rootstock, but also sometimes apparently annual, with 

 erect or ascending slender stems of 1 to 2ft., corymbosely branched above the 

 middle. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, acute or the lowest almost obtuse, 

 often all under "lin., but the upper ones sometimes lin. long. Stipular glands 

 wanting. Flowers blue, on erect pedicels, forming a loose, irregular, terminal 

 corymb. Sepals ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or cuspidate, 2 to 3 lines long 

 with a strong midrib, the margins thin and often with a narrow scarious border. 

 Petals from a little longer to twice as long. Styles united to above the middle. 

 Capsule dividing into 10 1-seeded cocci. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 46 ; F. v. M. PI. 

 Vict. i. 178 ; L. angmti folium, DC. Prod. i. 426 (as to the New Holland locality) ; 

 Bartl. in PI. Preiss. i. 161. 



Hab.: Darling Downs. 



3. I., susedaefolium (Sureda-leaved), Plawh. in Hook. Loml. Jown. vii. 

 168 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 283. Apparently an annual, with numerous short erect 

 stems. Leaves crowded, linear, obtuse, 3 or 4 lines long, without stipular glands. 

 Flowers and fruit of the small varieties of L. mair/inale, except that the sepals 

 are very obtuse, those of the lower flowers almost dilated at the top. 



Hab.: Balonne River, Mitchell (Herb. Lindl.) The specimen is very imperfect. It is probably 

 a variety of L. marcjvude, with which some specimens in F. v. Mueller's Herbarium with less 

 pointed sepals than usual would seem to connect it. — Benth. 



*4. Z.. gallicum (French), Linn. Plant glabrous, usually producing many 

 erect, slender stems. Leaves linear-lanceolate. Flowers small, yellow, in a 

 terminal corym. Sepals ciliate at the base, subulate at the apex. Petals blunt, 

 twice as long as i^he calyx. 



Hab.: Mediterranean region. Now and again has been met with about Brisbane. 



