CHAPTER XXVIII. 



LINACEiE. 



I. General Characters of the Order. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees. 

 Leaves simple, entire, generally alternate and exstipulate, or 

 with small stipules only. 



Flowers regular, hypogynous. Calyx, inferior, four or five 

 sepals, persistent. Corolla polypetalous, four or five petals 

 twisted or imbricate in the bud, soon falling. 



Androecium of four or five perfect stamens, often alternating 

 with a similar number of teeth or abortive stamens, all united 

 to a hypogynous ring. 



Gynascium, syncarpous, three to five carpels, the ovary having 

 three to five loculi, each of which is sometimes partially divided 

 by a false dissepiment. 



One or two pendulous ovules in each loculus. 



Fruit, a roundish capsule, splitting along the dissepi- 

 ments. 



Seeds eight or ten in each fruit, with a small amount of endo- 

 sperm and a straight embryo. 



The Linacese comprises a small Order of about 150 

 species. 



The genus Linum includes about ninety species, some of which 

 are cultivated in gardens on account of their brilliantly coloured 

 flowers. The most important species belonging to the Order is 

 Flax or Linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.). 



2. Flax or Linseed (Linum usiiatissimum L.). — Flax has been 

 grown from time immemorial for the manufacture of linen, a 



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