YELLOW GROUP 



Yellow Flax 



Linum striatum. — Family, Flax. Color, yellow. Sepals, short, 

 5. Petals, stamens, and pistils, 5. A perfect and symmetrical 

 flower, often taken as a pattern for class study. Stamens, united 

 at base. Flowers, small, rather crowded on viscid, clustered 

 stems, creeping at base. They last only a day, and produce a 

 roundish, brown pod. Leaves, opposite below, alternate above; 

 oblong, rather broad. Stem and branches, angular, often winged 

 by ridges sent down from the leaf petioles. Summer. 



In bogs and swamps, New England to Florida and west- 

 ward. Linum means a thread. Flax is an Anglo-Saxon 

 word, signifying to plait or weave. The use of flax for linen 

 cloth, cordage, etc., is as ancient as are the Egyptian mum- 

 mies, many of which were wrapped in fine linen. Of its his- 

 tory we read that " in the Temple of Minerva at Lindus there 

 was kept a linen corselet of fine workmanship which had 

 been worn by Amasis, an Egyptian king who reigned 600 

 years before Christ, each thread of which was composed of 

 360 filaments." 



Wild or Slender Yellow Flax 



L. virginiknum — Blossoms like the last. They are small, star- 

 like, scattered on the spreading branches in an irregular panicle. 

 Leaves, entire, thin, oblong, or long and narrow, on the flowering 

 branches reduced to bracts. 1 to 2 feet high. June to August. 



Suckers springing from the base of the stem help to prop- 

 agate the plant, which is a common growth on the edges of 

 light, dry woods. 



Grooved Yellow Flax 



L. sulcatum. — The flowers of this species are rather large, about 

 \ inch across, on ascending branches that are grooved and 

 strongly angled. Sepals, bristly margined, sharp - pointed, 3- 

 nerved. Flowers, in irregular corymbs. Pods, conspicuous, 

 roundish. Leaves, alternate, long, narrow, with a pair of dark- 

 colored glands instead of stipules. Plant 2 feet high or less. 



In dry soil, mostly in the interior, along the mountains to 

 Georgia westward. 



Lady's Sorrel. Yellow Wood Sorrel 

 Oxalis corniculata (name means "sour"). — Family, Geranium. 

 Sepals, petals, styles, 5. Stamens, 10. Pods, long, erect, weak- 

 stemmed, arranged in cymes or umbels, standing erect at the 



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