168 THE FLORIST AND 



Flaxes, in Hookers Journal of Botany, vol. vii. 1848, an article which I 

 can only quote from memory, not having it at present before me. 



The most remarkable difference between the two types of the common 

 flax is in the capsules ; in one, these organs do not open themselves with 

 elasticity, whence the common names Schliesslein (closed flax), or Dresch- 

 lein (beaten flax), which the German cultivators give them ; the other, on 

 the contrary, is crackling, that is, opening with noise by a spring for the 

 dissemination of the seed, they receive, in the vernacular tongue of the 

 Germans, the names Springlein (leaping flax) and Klinglein (cracking flax). 

 Distinguished in the first place as different species by the celebrated Miller, 

 these types were called by the English author, the first, Linum usitatissi- 

 mum, the second, Linum humile, names for which I wish I could substitute, 

 as juster and less subject to confusion, those of Linum vulgare and crepi- 

 tans, which these plants received later from Schubler and De Martius. 

 Unfortunately the characters on which the authors mentioned founded the 

 distinctions of these plants, are in the habit, the comparative shape, the 

 thickness of the capsules, and their mode of dehiscence, the size of the 

 flowers, in fact, on points generally so variable in cultivated species, that 

 w r e cannot, without dispute, admit as certain signs of specific difference. A 

 distinction remarkable for its constancy, and which, easy to establish even 

 with unripe capsules, will permit us always to distinguish these two types, 

 is that which I have discovered in the five half partitions which divide each 

 cell of the capsules. In the Linum usitatissimum, these partitions are 

 always glabrous on their free side, while, in the Linum humile, this same 

 side is covered with long crisped hairs. It is on the consideration of this 

 character, that it seems to me the certain diagnosis of these two plants 

 should be founded, especially in the absence of capsules, whose mode of 

 dehiscence offers to practical men a mode of distinction much less exact and 

 perhaps as true. 



The Linum usitatissimum of Miller [Linum vulgare, Schubl. & Mart.), 

 is the species most commonly cultivated ; it is the only one which I have 

 seen in Flanders. In general, it is a little higher than the other species, 

 Avhich it resembles fn the leaves, the inflorescence, and the fruit. The 

 flowers, however, are generally smaller. . 



The Linum humile, Milleu (Linum crepitans Schubl. & Mart.), is not 

 rare, as Prof. Scheidweiler, in the culture of the Rhenish provinces ; it 

 suckers more than the L. vulgare ; its flowers are larger. The same species 

 exist in some gardens as an ornamental plant, under the erroneous name of 





