PENTAKDRIA PE3TAGYXIA 211 



Most U6ETUL, ob usual Linum. Vulgo — Flax. Common Flax. 

 C^allice — Lin. Germanice — Gcmeiner Flachs. Hispanicc — Lino. 



Root annual. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, mostly solitary* simple, terete, smooth, cx>- 

 rymbosely branching at summit. Leaves numerous, scattered, an inch to an in<h 

 tnd half long, about a line wide, very acute, often 3-nerved. Flowers large, onpe. 

 dicels an inch to an inch and half long, axillary, or opposite the leaves* SepaU 

 state-oblong * acuminate, Z-nerved. Petals blue, often with a tinge of purple, obv 

 vote, crenate, 3 times as long as the calyx. Capsule globose, abruptly acuminate, 

 smooth. Seed compressed, lance-ovate, slightly oblique at apex* brown, smooth and 

 dllining. 

 Hab. Fields, and lot* : not common* Fl. June. Fr. July. 



Obs. TViis valuable plant, once considered so indispensable among the crops of 

 sur fanners, is now but little cultivated, here', its linty product being superseded 

 by the cotton of the South. It is a crop which involves a good deal of troublesome 

 tabor \ and, without being profitable, is generally believed to be injurious to the soil', 

 an opinion as old as the time of Virgil,— who says 



"Uritcnim Lini campum scgos, urit avenae. Geobo. 1.71. 



The seeds beside yielding a most valuable oil, afford one of the best mucilaginous 

 drinks* for coughs, and dysenteric affections. 2\vo or three other species are enu* ' 

 meratcii in the U. States. 



163. DROSERA. L. JYutt. Gen. 218. 

 [Greek, Drosos, dew; from the pellucid dew-like glands on the leaves.] 



Calyx 5-parted, persistent. Petals 5. Styles 3 to 5 or 6, bipartite. 

 Ovary superior. Capsule 1 to 3-cellcd, 3 to 5 valved, many-seedeJ. 



Herbaceous . mostly stemless ; leaves alternate, mostly radical, glandular-ciliate J 

 peduncles, when young, circinate. Nat. Ord. 137. Lindl. Droseracbjs. 



1. D. botuxdifolta, L. Leaves all radical, spreading, suborbicular, 

 fringed with purple cili®, pilose above, abruptly tapering to a long hai- 

 ry petiole ; scape erect, bearing a terminal and mostly simple raceme ; 

 seeds arillate. Beck* Bot. fK 42, 



Round-leaved Dkosera. Vulgo— Sun-dew. 



Gatf.-Ros£c du Soleil. Germ.-Dcr Sonnenthau. J7is/>.-Rocio del Sol. 

 Root perennial ? (annual, DC.)* Leaves one fourth to half an inch in length, and 

 as wide as long, nearly orbicular, sometimes rather spatulate, fringed with long 

 .purple cilia which arc glandular-viscid at apex and dilated at base, glandular-pi- 

 lose above, smoothish beneath, abruptly narrowed to a hairy petiole 1 to 2 inches 

 long. Scape mostly solitary (sometimes 2 or 3 from the same root), 4 to 6 or 8 inch, 

 es high, slender, smooth. Raceme 1 to 2 inches long, terminal, mostly simple 

 {sometimes bifid, rarely trifid), sccund, at first circinate, or recurved, finally erect; 

 pedicels short, with minute subulate bracts at base. Calyx segments linear-oblong, 

 •btuse, purplish green, smooth. Petals white, oblong, obtuse, shrivelling on the 

 •vary. Styles 5 to 6, very short; stigmas simple. Capsule oblong, longer than 

 the calyx. [Seed* very numerous, attenuate at each extremity. Torr. Seeds aril- 

 late. DC] 

 Mob. Swamps, in the Mica-Slate range : not common. Fl. July. Fr. 



Obs. This was first collected, here, by Mr. Joseph Jacobs,— an active and 

 skillful Botanist,— to whom I am indebted for information respecting the locali- 

 ties of a number of our rarer plants. Two other species are found in the U. States. 



* 



