LINAGES. 59 



flower has a ■well-developed contorted corolla with, five or ten 

 monadelphous stamens, and whose ovules are desoendent, with 

 exterior and superior mioropyle capped by an obturator, are also 

 as nearly as possible related to the Linece and to certain Eugoniece ; 

 but in this case they are plants like Jatropha, very often milky, and 

 always with unisexual flowers, and uniovulate ovary cells, a tri- 

 coccate fruit, and an abundant albumen in che seeds. The Houmiriece 

 are frequently, but not :^always, characterised by the form of the 

 anthers, and they have been compared to the Ehenacece ^ and to the 

 Meliacece, with uni- or biovulate cells ; but from the former they 

 are clearly distinguished by their polypetalous corolla, their prse- 

 floration, their ovules with superior and exterior mioropyle, and 

 their drupes with thick hard stone ; and from the latter by their 

 stamens not being united in a tube which is often elongated, and by 

 their leaves being always simple.^ 



The most useful of these plants is, without dispute, the cultivated 

 Flax ^ (fig. 69-75). It furnishes, much more than any other species * 

 of the genus, that textile fibre constituted by the fibrous fascicles 

 of its liber, separated, bj^ steeping, from the other parts of the stem 

 and bark, and especially remarkable for its flexibility and tenacity. 

 The seeds when ground are also of very great service, unwholesome 

 indeed to eat, but constantly used in the preparation of poultices. 

 From the embryo and albumen or the seeds is also extracted a drying. 



1 See Adanaonia, i. 210. ser. 2, ii. 596. — Benn. Om. Lins Flant (Stookh. 



2 The Soiimmeee haye also affinities with the 1738). — Beroh. Ifatr. sokns Lin-nade (Tips. 

 GhlamaeeeB, which is explained hy their relation 1763). — Kalm. Om det grSna Lin. (Vieenz. 

 to the rerMsiramace®, from which the (7Ate»»ce<» 1783). — G-add. Anmom Lin-och (Abo. 1786). — ■ 

 are scarcely distinct (see Adcmsonia, loc. cit.). Treooo. Colt, e gov. del Lino. (Vioenz. 1792). — 

 But we do not think they could he united to the Nag. XJhterr, zmn Leinbau. (Miinch. 1831). — 

 lEricaceee as proposed by Lindley i^Veg. Kingd, Veit. Anl. num Lnnbau. (Augsb. 1841). — Bakek, 

 447). " Fl. Maurit. 35 — L. anmse Neck. Gall, 159. — 



3 Linrnn mitatissimmn L. Spec. 397. — Tkatt. L. sativmn Blaow. Serb. t. 160. 



Tab. t. 144. — DO. Prodr. i. 426, n. 29. — Mer. * Textile fibres are also prepared from the 



et Del. Diet. Mat. Med. iv. 123. — ^Endl. En- stems of L. austriaovm L., maritimum L., 



chirid. 623. — DuoH. Rip. 229. — Lindl. Fl. Med. f.ei'eime'L. {Lin deSibgrie), angliczim L., ethumile 



129 ; Veg. Kingd. 485. — Gdib. Srog. Simpl. ed. Mill, en Europe, Lewisii Pursh. In North 



6, iii. 651, fig. 746. — Rich. .^^e'm. ed. 4, ii. 493, t. America. (Upon the stem structure of the 



90.— EosENTH. /S2^«. Pi. Diaphor. 892.— Rev. in Flaxes, see Link. Flm. Phil. Bot. (1837), t. 2. 



Fl. M4d. du XIX« Siicle, ii. 239. — Caz. PI. M4d. — 'R^KS.BieFasergew. desLeines {extr. Dmkschr. 



Ind. ed. 3, 589.— H. Bn. in Diet. Enogel. Se. M^d. Akad. Wissmsch. Wien, c. icon.). 



