212 The Natural System of Botany. 



sepals, are always equal in number. The ovary contains ten 

 cells, and the seed vessel opens into ten valves. By these dif. 

 ferences the Flax Tribe may easily be distinguished from the 

 Pink Tribe. 



" Scarcely any plant is less affected than the common Flax 

 (Linum usitatissimum), by differences of soil and climate 

 The same species, with all its characteristics unaltered, flour- 

 ishes in the cold as well as in the temperate regions of Europe 

 in North and South America, in Africa and in Asia. There 

 are few plants which are made subservient to so great a variety 

 of uses. It is from the woody fibre of its stem that all the 

 thread is obtained, which has been from very ea7ly ages em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of linen fabrics, and it is now used 

 for that purpose to a greater extent than ever, in spite of the 

 degree in which it has been superseded by cotton. From the 

 seeds is obtained, by pressure, linseed oil, and the dry cake 

 which is left is used for feeding cattle. The seed coats also 

 contain much mucilage, so that an infusion of the seeds, known 

 as linseed tea, is often of great utility as a soothing remedy. 

 Further, the seeds, when ground into meal, form a most excel- 

 lent material for poultices ; and great quantities are used for 

 this purpose, especially in hospitals. The greatest supplies of 

 Flax consumed in manufactures are furnished by Russia and 

 Prussia. The annual imports into Great Britain are said to 

 be from forty thousand to seventy-five thousand tons of flax, 

 and nearly two millions of bushels of linseed. The best Irish 

 linen, however, is made from flax cultivated in that country. 

 In some parts of the United States it is also raised to a con- 

 siderable extent; but the greater value of the corn crops has 

 taken away the inducement to its general cultivation. The 

 appearance of the common flax is so familiar as to make a 

 description unnecessary, and our limits forbid an attempt to 

 detail the operations requisite to prepare it for use. 



Order— Geraniace^. The Geranium Tribe. 



This is an interesting order, on account of the great number 

 of species which are favorite cultivated plants. Nearly all the 

 species are commonly called Geraniums, though the exotics 



