VARIETIES OF FLAX PLANT. 143 
Besides other species of the same genus, such as L. perenne, 
which affords a strong though coarse fibre, and one difficult 
to separate from the woody matter, there are some varieties 
of the true Flax plant known; but these are much fewer than 
is the case with most other long-cultivated plants. Dr. Lindley, 
as already quoted by Mr. J. Wilson, in his paper on ‘ Flax; 
its Treatment, Agricultural and Technical’ (in ‘Journ. Royal 
Agric. Soc.,’ vol. xiv, p. 188, 1853), describes two different 
forms : 
1. The Linum humile or crepitans (the Springlein or Klanglein 
of the Germans), a plant somewhat shorter and more inclined 
to branch than the other, and possessing larger capsules, twice 
as long as the calyx, which burst with considerable elasticity 
when ripe; its seeds, too, are both larger and of a paler 
colour. 
2. The Linum usitatissimum or true winter flax (Winterlein 
of the Germans), which has smaller capsules, scarcely larger 
than the calyx, not bursting with elasticity, but firmly retain- 
ing their seeds, which are of a dark brown colour. 
Mr. Wilson adds, that “in Austria and North Europe, where 
the winters are severe, and the snow lies too long on the 
ground to admit of early tillage in the spring, the Winterlein 
is extensively used, and sown in the autumn; the summer 
season being too short and too hot to admit of the successful 
cultivation of the Springlein, With us the custom is to sow 
in the spring, though, no doubt, in some of our northern dis- 
tricts, where the ground cannot be got ready sufficiently early 
in the spring, Flax could be advantageously cultivated if sown 
in the previous autumn.” 
The Indian plant, called ulsee or tesee, may be considered a 
variety which has acquired certain characters from the pecu- 
liarities of soil, of climate, and of long and peculiar culture. It 
is always short, probably not more than eighteen inches in 
height, much branched, loaded with bolls, which are filled with 
large, ovoid, plump seed. That this retains its character even 
in other situations, appears from a fact, of which I have been 
informed by Mr. M‘Adam, the able secretary of the Society for 
the Promotion of the Growth of Flax in Ireland. The Society 
having imported some seed for experiment from India, found 
that the plant did not grow beyond fourteen or eighteen inches. 
