218 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Lino ( Span.) = Flax. 



Lino d'India (It.). Asclepias fruticosa. 



num mains. 



rfei Muri. Antirrhi- 



Linum spp. 



Exogens. Linacece. Small herbs or shrubs. 



The representatives of the geuns Linum are distributed over Loth hemispheres, 



though they are chiefly natives of temperate climates. While L. usitatissimum i- 



considered the cultivated fiber species, botanists recognize upward of 100 species in 



this genus, De Candolle describing 54 in the first volume of his Prodromns. In many 



instances the distinctions between these 

 species are so slight that the agriculturist or 

 the industrialist would scarcely recognize 

 them, and they are therefore of botanical 

 rather than economic interest. Renouard, 

 in Etudes sur le Culture du Lin., refers to the 

 fact that our gardens sometimes contain three 

 varieties which differ greatly : Two species 

 with yellow flowers, the Linum trigynum 

 (Beinwardtia trigyna), originating in India; 

 and the Linum campanulatum, which comes 

 from southern Europe and from Egypt; also 

 one with red flowers, the Linum grandiflorum. 

 And plants with white flowers and flesh- 

 colored flowers are sometimes seen. There 

 are still others known by name only, as the 

 species is very rare : such is the Linum cathar- 

 ticum the leaves of which have a bitter taste 

 ana are sometimes employed as a purgative. 

 But among all these varieties the blue flower- 

 ing, still designated by the name of Lin com- 

 mun, ortheZ. usitatissimum of the naturalists, 

 is the only industrial species and the only 

 one really cultivated. In the grouping of 

 species two general divisions have been made : 

 Those having yellow flowers and those with 

 flowers blue, flesh-color, pink or white, 

 though a special distinction is made in regard 

 to L. catharticum, " with flowers always white 

 and leaves opposite.' 7 L. usitaiissimum conies 

 into the group having blue, white, pink, or 

 flesh-colored flowers, though as far as the cul- 

 tivation of these plants for commercial fiber 

 is concernedit is the only speciesthat interests 

 us. Regardinu the distinctions which separate the species of Linum, Renouard says: 

 But these are so subtle that they evidently have no bearing upon the industrial uses of 

 the flax and are of no value to agriculture. Often the most experienced operator and 

 the countryman most familiar with this culture have had much trouble to classify 

 the plants as above indicated. Moreover all these species may he obtained from one 

 sort of seed. What has given rise to these distinctions is that when the flax does 

 not appear all in one growth of stem, slender at the top and without branches, bear- 

 ing one flower, it may remain short and ramify its stalk into a number of branches 

 having several flowers and considerable seed. It is under this aspect that we see the 

 plant designated as " tetard" (pollard or branched also called pi tit Jin small or low 



Fig. 74. — The ancient flax plant, Linum 

 angustifolium. 



