q8 j,{neje 



ages supplied the valuable textile substance which derives from it the 

 name " linen " ; the mucilaginous seeds jire employed in "linseed " 

 poultices; and, when crushed, yield "linseed oil," the chief oil 

 used in painting, and the refuse "oilcake," used as food for cattle. 



1. Kauiola. — I'linven tetramerous ; scpah trifid. 



2. LiiNUM. — 77(«'fVi- pentamerous ; .fty'i;7A- entire. 



r. Kadioi.a (Flax-seed, Allseed). A minute annual herb; 

 stiin filiform, repeatedly forked ; floiuers termmal and in the forks ; 

 sepals 4, deeply ^nd acutely 3-cleft, united 

 below; petals 4, fugacious. (Name, a duni- 

 nutive from the Latin radius, a ray, from 

 the radiating branches.) 



I. R. linbides (Common Flax-seed), the 

 only species, a minute plant, never exceed- 

 ing four inches in height, bearing ovate- 

 acute leaves and & large number of minute 

 white flowers, which, as the plants generally 

 (Comiiwn Fi.jx-seed). grow many together, often prevent its being 

 overlooked. — Darnp heaths ; frequent. — 

 Fl. July, August. Annual. 



2. LiNUM (f<lax). — Herbs or smalKshrubs ; leaves scattered, 

 or rarely opposite ; flowers in cymes, 'pentamerous ; sepals 5, 

 entire ; petals 5, fugacious ; disk of five glands opposite the petals ; 

 stamens 5, with 5 staminodes between them ; ovary 5-chambered, 

 chambers di\'ided ahnost into 2 ; styles' 5 ; ovules 10 ; fruit cap- 

 sular. (Name, the I^atin name of the plan^, perhapis of Keltic origin.) 



1. L. cathdrticum (Cathartic Flax).] — A very slender, much- 

 branched, glabrous plant, rarely exceeding 6 in. in height ; leaves 

 mostly opposite, linear-oblong ; flowers numerous, \ in. across, 

 white, in dichasial cymes, drooping before expansion ; sepals 

 pointed, i-veined. — Dry pastures ; common. — Fl. June — August. 

 Annual. 



2. L. pereiuie (Perennial k'lax). — A 'slender plant about a foot 

 high, with wiry s/ei/is : very narrow, scattered, sessile learvs, 

 tapering to a point ; sepals obovate, obtuse, obscurely 5-vcined, 

 glabrous ; petals a beautiful sky blue, but so fugacious as scarcely 

 to bear being gathered. Chalky places; rare. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



3. Z. angustifolium (Narrow-leaved Flax). — Like the last ; but 

 irregularly branched and distinctly maijked by its sharp-pointed, 

 elliptical, 3-veined sepals, and l)y the hghtor, more lilac, blue of 

 \\'e, flowers. — Dry pastures in the southern and western counties ; 

 frequent. — Fl. May — September. Annual or Perennial. 



