L I N 



XI N 



t. 1048, approaches very nearly to L. hirftitum. Its flowers 

 however are larger, and of a reddidi or purplifli tinge. 



L. arbon-um. Tree Flax. I.inn. Sp. Pi. 400. Curt. 

 Mag. t. 234. — Leaves wedge-ftiaped. Stems arborefcent. 

 ^A. native of the Levant, from whence it was Tent to Eng- 

 land by Dr. Sibthorp in the year 17S8. It fluvvcrs fifom 

 May to Auguft. This beautiful fpecics is an arboreous 

 ftirub, rifinpj to the height of feveral feet. Sirms rather 

 {lender, leafy. Leaves on (hort footllalks, the upper ones 

 nightly embracing the flem, of a glaucous colour. 



Tlie two following fpecies come under the other feftion of 

 this genus, from having oppofite leaves. 



L. caihcirikum Purging Plax. Mill-mountain. I^inn. 

 Sp. PI. 401. Engh Bot. t. 382. Curt. Lo:id. fafc. 3. 

 t. 19. Fi. Dan. t. Syi. — Leaves oppofite, obovato-lan- 

 ceolate. Stem forked. Petals pointed. — Not uncommon 

 in elevated, dry pallures in all parts of Great Britain, bear- 

 ing flowers from June to Auguft.. — Root annual, fmall. 

 Stuns leafy, ereft, many-flowered. Leaves obtufe, entire. 

 Floivers fmall, white, pendulous before they expand. — Dr. 

 Smith obferves, in the Flora Britannka, that L. calkarticum 

 is very nearly allied to Geranium, for that its ftamens are 

 fometimes monadclphous. The whole herb is fmooth, bit- 

 ter, and has long been celebrated for its purgative qualities. 

 L.guaelri/olium. Four-!eaved Flax. Linn. Sp. PI. 4C2. 

 Curt, Mag. t. .|3 [. — Leaves four in a whorl. — A native of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, flowering in May and June. 

 ' Root l\\\ck and woody, i'/ems numerous, about fix inches 

 in hti'^ht, forked, (lender, upright. Leaves four in a 

 whorl. Floivers yellow. 



This is the original guaJrifolittm of Linnxus, that of Ray 

 having blue flowers. 



LiNUM, in Gardenwg, comprehends plants of the herba- 

 ceous, annual, and perennial flirubby kinds, of which the 

 fpecies are the common flax (L. ulitatiffimum) ; the peren- 

 nial flax (L. perenne) ; the flirubby flax (L. fuffruticofum'i ; 

 the tree flax (L. arboreum) ; and the African flax (L. Afri- 

 canum.) 



In the fecond fort there is a variety which is procumbent, 

 ■with fmaller flowers. 



Method 0/ Cultun. — AW thefe plants may be increafcJ by 

 feeds, layers, and cuttings. 



But the two firil fort's are bell raifed by fowing the feeds 

 •i;i the early fpring months, as March, or the following 

 month, the' former in fields or plantation-grounds, where 

 ■the foil is frefli, good, and well reduced into order, by fre- 

 .quent digging over, or ploughing and harrowing, in narrow 

 drills, or broudcaft, and raked or harrowed in with a light 

 harrow ; the plants being afterwards kept perfedlly clean 

 from weeds by repeated hoemgs. 



About the end of Auguft, when the plants have attained 

 their full growth, and bejin to turn yellow at bottom, and 

 brown at lop, and their feeds to ripen, it is proper time to 

 .pull them ; though, if it were not fnr the fake of the feed, 

 they might be pulled a little before the feeds ripen, by which 

 the flax is generally belter coloured and finer ; but if fuf- 

 fercd to ftand till the feeds are fully ripe, it is commonly 

 ttronger, fomcwhat coarfer, and more in quantity. It 

 fhould be pulled up by handfuls, roots and all, fliaking off 

 all the mould ; then either fpreading them on the ground by 

 handfuls, or binding them in fmall bunches, and felling 

 them upright againft one another, for ten days or a fortnight, 

 till they are perfectly dry, and tl« feed fully hardened, then 

 houled, and the feed thralhed out, cleaned, and placed in a 

 dry airy fituation, being afterwards put up for ufe. The 

 ilax, after being rippled and forted, fliould be carried to 

 a pond of nearly ftagnant water, being placed in it v.ith the 



bundles croITing each other in different dircflions, fo as to 

 keep tiic whole in a clofe compaft ftate, being kept juft be- 

 low the fnrface of the water, by proper weights applied 

 upon it. It fliould remain in this ftcep till the flems become 

 brittle and the bark readily fejiarates, wlun it muft be taken 

 out and ipread thinly on a flior' pafture, being occafionally 

 turned until it becomes perfectly bleached and drv, wiien it 

 is in a proper ftate for the purpofe of beir.g converted into 

 flax by the buckler. 



With regard to the latter, or perennial fort, it fliould be 

 fown in a bed or border of good earth, in flialluw drills at 

 the diftancc of fix inches ; and when the plants are two or 

 three inches in height, they fliould be thinned to the fame 

 diftances, and in autumn be planted out in the places where 

 they are to grow. But it is probably a better practice to 

 fow them at once in the places where tliey are to grow, thin- 

 ning them out properly afterwards. 



The three other for.s may be beft incrcafed by planting 

 {;uttings of the branches in pots of light frefti earth, plunging 

 them in the tan hot-bed, or by layers laid down in the later 

 fummer montlis. When the plants in cither mode have 

 ftricken good root, they may be removed into feparate pot.s, 

 and be managed as other tender exotic plants, that require 

 the proteftion of the green-houfe. And ihrv may likewife 

 be raifed from feeds when they can be procured, which 

 fliould be fown in pots, and placed in a hot-bed in the fpring 

 feafon. 



The firft. fort may be faid to be one of the mnft valuable 

 plants in the whole vegetable kingdom : as from the hark of 

 its ftalks is manntaftured flax or lint, for making all forts of 

 linen cloth ; from the cloth, when worn to rags, is made 

 paper ; and from the feeds of the plant linfeed oil is ex. 

 prefled, which is much ufed by painters, and in other arts 4 

 and the refufe, after cxpreffion, forms the pil-cakes To va- 

 luable in the fattening of cattle, fheep, and other forts of 

 live ftock. 



A few plants of this, and the fecond fort, may be intro- 

 duccd in the clumps and borders of the [Lafnre. ground ; 

 and the three other forts afford variety in green-houfe coU 

 leftions among other potted plants. 



LlNL'M Carpafmm, CarpafianJIax; or Uiieii, a term often 

 occurring in the old writers, and ufed by different authors 

 in very different fenfes. 



The firft ufe we find made of the word, is for the cx- 

 preffing a kind of flax which was finer and finaller, as well 

 as brighter and more, gloffy, than any other. Pliny ufes the 

 word in this fenfe, and tells us, that fnch flax was princi- 

 pally brought from Spain ; and that both it, and the linen 

 made of it, were, in his tiine, called by the name cavpafian : 

 from this it became a cuftom to call all very fine flax, or 

 fine linen, carpafian linen, and the word fignified no more 

 than delicate, or fine. 



The modern Greeks ufe the word in this ftnfe, and 

 Suidas expreffes the fineft linen veils by the term carpafian. 

 The author of the Periplus Maris Erythrxi, who was con- 

 temporary with PHny, calls the flax, of which the Indian 

 linens were made, carpafos ; but none of ihe older Greeks 

 have the word. This author is not, however, to be ap- 

 pealed to for afcertaining the purity of the language of the 

 ancients ; for it is plain that he has taken in many words 

 which are not good Greek, nor ever were ufed by any 

 author of credit, but are ihe mere technical terms of the 

 tradefmen and merchants of that time. 



Paufanias ufes the woi d carpafium linum in a very different 

 fenfe from all thefe ; for with him it is made to exprefs the 

 flax made of the ftone aflieftos, and the linen made of thi-;, 

 which was thrown into ihe fire to Dc cleaned. Solinus ufes 



the 



