LINTJM FLAX. 



109 



LINUM.— Flax. 



Linum usitatissimum Linne. — Common Flax. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals ovate, acute. Corolla : petals large, with 

 a broad limb and short claw, deep violet-blue, fugacious. Stamens 5, al- 

 ternating with five abortive ones, all united at the base, forming a short 

 tube ; anthers small, versatile, deep blue. 

 Ovary flask-shaped, 5-celled at the base, 

 each cell 2-ovuled ; styles 5, distinct. 

 Fruit an imperfectly 10-celled capsule. 



An erect annual, 1 to 2 feet high. 

 Stem commonly solitary, stiff, smooth, 

 round, branching near the top. Leaves 

 alternate, sessile, linear-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, entire. Flowers solitary, at the 

 ends of the branches. 



Habitat. — Flax has been cultivated 

 from time immemorial, so that its na- 

 tive home is unknown. In all countries 

 where cultivated it becomes sparingly 

 naturalized, occurring spontaneously un- 

 der favorable circumstances. 



Part Used. — The seed. Official name, 

 Linum — United States Pharmacopoeia. 



Constituents. — The most important 

 constituents of flaxseed are fixed oil and 

 mucilage — both too well known to re- 

 quire comment. 



Preparations. — Oleum lini — oil of flaxseed. — United States Pharmacopoeia, 

 The seed, unground, is employed in decoction ; ground, under the name 

 of flaxseed meal or ground flaxseed, in the preparation of poultices, etc. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Flaxseed tea is largely employed as a 

 demulcent in febrile and inflammatory affections, and topically as an in- 

 jection in diseases of the bladder, rectum, and vagina. The seed has also 

 been recommended as a substitute for cod-liver oil, on account of the nu- 

 tritious material which it contains. Flaxseed poultices are all but uni- 

 versally employed in cases requiring emollient applications. Flaxseed — 

 or. as it is commonly termed, linseed — oil is less used in medicine and 

 pharmacy than formerly. As a topical agent it is often objectionable on 

 account of its drying properties. It was formerly used in the official Lina- 

 mentum calcis — lime liniment — U. S. P. (carron oil), but has been displaced 

 by cotton-seed oil, because the latter is not possessed of drying properties 

 and hence does not impart to surgical dressings the inconvenient and 

 disagreeable stiffness so generally experienced with the old preparation. 



Fig. 115.— Linum usitatissimum. 



