LINACEAE. 239 



short peduncle; flowers 8 or 9 lines long, purplish or purplish-tinged; lowest 

 calyx-teeth lanceolate, nearly equaling or exceeding tube; seed with a small 

 aril. 



The most common species: Napa Valley; Oakland Hills, etc. Mar.-Apr., 

 but often flowering at all seasons. 



4. L. bolanderi Wats. Stem angled; herbage rather light-colored, per- 

 fectly glabrous; leaflets mostly exceeding 1 in., elliptic-ovate, obtuse at base 

 and apex, mucronulate; stipules large, ovate, acuminate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 dilated below into a rounded toothed lobe, often 5 lines broad; lower calyx- 

 teeth distinctly longer than tube ; corolla rose-purple, fading yellowish. 



Vicinity of the ocean : Oakland Hills ; Berkeley ; San Mateo Co. ; Angel 

 Island. Apr. 



5. L. watsonii White. Stems stoutish, erect, l*/> to 2% ft. high, with 

 zigzag branches; herbage light green, commonly glaucous, finely pubescent; 

 leaves 1% to 2 in. long, 6 to 8 lines wide, tapering from the middle to each 

 end, acute, mucronate, strongly several-nerved from the base, the nerves branch- 

 ing little and almost parallel; stipules semi-sagittate, narrow, the upper lobe 

 lanceolate, the lower lobe little dilated, commonly entire; raceme few (5 to 11) 

 -flowered, on a peduncle 3 to 7 in. long; flowers 10 lines long, white, veined 

 with purple; lower calyx-teeth lanceolate, subequal, longer than tube; pod 2 

 in. long, 4 lines broad; seed Avith a small aril. 



Foothills of the inner Coast Ranges and sandy ridges of the Sacramento 

 Valley bordering them; Sierra Nevada foothills; also Mendocino Co., Sonoma, 

 and Carmel Mission, ace. to Watson. Mar. Distinguished from L. bolanderi 

 by its much smaller and narrower stipules, by its leaflets which are acute at 

 both apex and base, and by the strong straight nerves from or near the base, 

 which proceed much above the middle of the leaflet. 



6. L. jepsonii Greene. Stems 4 to 6 ft. high, strongly winged along the 

 angles, the wings herbaceous but often callous-margined ; herbage glabrous ; 

 leaflets 8 to 12, linear-lanceolate, mostly iy 2 i n - long, markedly venulose; 

 stipules semi-sagittate, both the apical and basal lobes lanceolate ; peduncles 

 mostly shorter than the leaves ; corolla rose-purple, 9 lines long ; lower calyx- 

 teeth unequal, the middle one equaling the tube. 



Suisun Marshes. Aug. -Sept. 



LINACEAE. Flax Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, or sometimes opposite, small, 

 entire, without stipules or these sometimes replaced by a gland. Flowers mostly 

 in cymose panicles, perfect, regular, in ours 5-merous. Petals distinct, very 

 quickly falling. Stamens 5^, slightly united at base. Styles 2 to 5, distinct. 

 Cells of the superior ovary as many as the styles, or twice as many by the 

 formation of a false division wall from the back of each cell. False parti- 

 tions frequently not complete. Fruit a capsule, splitting through the false 

 partitions and frequently also septicidal. 



1. LINUM L. Flax. 

 Our only genus. (Ancient Latin name of these plants.) 



Perennial; styles 5; flowers blue; petals without ventral appendages 1. L. lewisii. 



Annual; styles 3; petals commonly with appendages. 



Leaves closely margined with stipitate glands; pedicels long, solitary 



2. L. adenophyllum. 

 Leaves entire. 



Pedicels elongated and flowers mostly solitary; stem diffusely paniculate above; flow- 

 ers pinkish or white. 



