Linum.] ijnacea;. 77 



I. Linum, Linn. Flax. 



Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5. Stamens 5. iSit/Zes 5. (SeecZs 

 ovate, compressed. 



* Leaves alternate. Flowers blue. 



*1. L. usitatissimum, L. Common Flax or Zire^. Stem subso- 

 litary erect corymbosely branched above, leaves linear-lanceolate 

 the lowermost broader obtuse, sepals ovate pointed 3 -nerved, cap- 

 sule nearly spherical subacuminate mucronate, root annual. J^r. 

 Fl. p. 74. E. B. t. 1357. 



In cultivated and waste ground, amongst corn, &c., accidentally introduced, but 

 very rarely. F/. July, August. J^r. August, September. 0. 



JE. Med. — In a sandy cornfield immediately facing Cliff farm, near Shanklin, 

 in considerable plenty. [In a field near Bembridge farm, A. G. More, Esq., 

 Ed vs.] 



W. ilferf.— About Kennerley, Mr. W. D. Snooke. 



Herb quite glabrous. Root annual, woody, whitish and tapering, with a few 

 lateral fibres or branches, sometimes nearly simple. Stem from about 1^ to 2 feet 

 in height, mostly solitary, sometimes (as in nearly all my specimens) 2 or 3 from 

 the same root, round, leafy, straight, erect, filled with cellular tissue, branched 

 only towards the summit in a corymbose form, the branches nearly upright, 

 straight, simple or again slightly ramified at top. Leaves pale grayish or glau- 

 cous-green, very numerous, scattered, erect or partly spreading or patent, sessile 

 and quite glabrous, entire, with rough, cartilaginous, subserrated margins, those 

 about the centre of the stem often about an inch and a half long, the lowermost 

 shorter, ovate or elliptic, more or less obtuse, deciduous, the rest linear-lanceolate, 

 very acute, with 3 mostly very distinct ribs, of which the 2 lateral disappear 

 before reaching the point. Peduncles single-flowered, terminal, axillary or oppo- 

 site, lax or drooping in bud, erect and variously elongated in flower and seed. 

 Flowers much larger and brighter coloured than in L. angustifolium. Sepals 

 broadly ovate (2 exterior shorter than the rest), concave, mucronate, acuminate, 

 3-nerved, the lateral nerves rather obscure, the median one forming a prominent 

 rough cartilaginous keel at the back ; the margins of all broad, white and mem- 

 branous, and of the 3 interior especially fringed or jagged, but not glandular, 

 those of the 2 outer Nearly or quite entire. Petals cuneate, obovate, about i an 

 inch long and 2i or 3 times longer then the calyx, with whitish somewhat pointed 

 claws, palish blue but much brighter than in L. angustifolium, streaked with con- 

 verging caerulean lines towards the claw, crenate along their superior margin, 

 very fugacious. Stamens converging, their white HsX filaments dilated, and com- 

 bined at base with 5 intermediate rudimentary ones ; anthers and their globular 

 •pollen light blue. Styles erect, twisted together, rather shorter than the stamens, 

 bluish. Germen ovate, globose. Capsules pale brown, much larger than in L. 

 angustifolium, almost perfectly spherical, very shortly and suddenly acuminate, 

 mucronate, glabrous, about as long (twice as long, Bertoloni) as the calyx. Seeds 

 about twice as large as in L. angustifolium, similar in shape and colour, very 

 glossy. 



The present species is stouter, not so wiry and less branched than the follow- 

 ing ; the relative length of the petals is ahke in both, neither can I perceive any 

 constant or material difference of form in the sepals between the two species. 



2. L. angustifolium, Huds. Narroiv-leaved pale Flax. Stems 

 numerous mostly diffuse variously and unequally branched, 

 branches lax spreading or divaricate, sepals ovate elliptical sub- 

 ciliate acuminate about as long as the subglobose mucronate 



