FLAX FAMILY 



97 



immortal Linnaeus. It is questionable whether any species of the 

 genus is indigenous in Britain. 



I. 71 platyphyllos (Large-leaved Linden), a large tree, with 

 its yomii:: shoots hairy ; leaves thin, downy beneath, longer than 

 theiL stalks; and //v^/V woody, 5-angled and downy. — Old rocky 

 woods in \\'ales and . - .. 



the west of Eng- 

 land. — Fl. Tune, 

 July.^ 



2.* T. vu/gd>-is 

 (Common Lime), 

 the chief form in 

 our parks and 

 avenues, glabrous 

 except woolly tuft.s 

 at the branching of 

 the veins on the 

 under side of the 

 leaves ; leaves thin, 

 twice as long as 

 their stalks ; fruit 

 woody, not ribbed 

 or aiigled when 

 ripe, downy. Hedgerows and plantations. — Fl. June, July. 



3. T. eurddla (Small-leaved Linden), which has most claim to be 

 considered indigenous, glabrous except woolly tufts, as in the last ; 

 leaves thick, leathery, scarcely longer than their stalks ; fruit faintly 

 ribbed, thin, brittle, downy. — Old woods. — Fl. July, August. 



Ord. XIX. LfxK.Ti,. — The Flax Fa^iily 

 Herbaceous, rarely shrubb)' plants, with slender stems : narrow, 

 simple, entire leaves ; and polysymmetric, 3 — 5^merous fioicers ; 

 sepals imbricate, persistent ; petals twisted when in bud, falling 

 off very soon after expansion ; ,f/(rOTd';/.f alternate with the petals; 

 united at the base into a ring with staminodes between them ; 

 capsule approaching a globular form, 3 — s-.chambered, each 

 chamber incompletely divided by the in-growth of the mid-rib of 

 the carpellary leaf; seeds 2 in each chamber. 'The flow-ers are in 

 many cases highly ornamental, providing our gardens with vivid 

 blue, crimson, orange, and white blossoms ; but the most useful 

 characters of the Order are the toughness of the fibre contained 

 in their stems, the mucilaginous nature of the oyter coat of their 

 seeds, and the oil obtained from the seeds themselves when 

 crushed. The flax of commerce, Liiium usitatissi/inaii, has for 



H 



T1L!.\ vui-G.\Kls {Ccunncn I.f:i,:'). 



