By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 



309 



From thence in the course of time a new plant begins to come 

 forth furnished with leaves and flowers and performing all the 

 functions of vegetable life. 



2. E. moschatum, (Sm.) Musk Stork's-bill. Engl. Bot t. 902. 

 This plant formerly grew in some plenty under the old walls about 

 Kingsdown, {District 4) where it was first noticed by the late Mr. 

 J . J elly. I am not aware of its having been observed in this locality 

 of late years. 



ORDER. LINACEiE. (DE CAND.) 

 Linum. (Linn.) Flax. 

 Linn. CI. v. Ord. iii. 



Name. From linon, (Grr.) and this from lin (Celtic) a thread, 

 hence the roots of our words lint and lint seed, line, linen, &c. 



1. L. usitatissimum, (Linn.) so called from its extreme utility 

 and the various economical purposes to which its several parts are 

 applied. Engl. Bot. t. 1357. St. 26, 12. 



Locality. Cultivated fields and waste ground, occasionally. A. 

 Wl. July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 



Formerly the " Flax " was much more cultivated in Wiltshire 

 than at present, hence found here and there so often as a straggler 

 throughout the districts. There is another source from which it is 

 propagated in the county, viz. by bird-catchers who carry the seeds 

 of the flax to feed their call birds and scatter them on commons, 

 by waysides, &c. where they vegetate but keep no permanent hold 

 of the ground so as to form good localities. If a flower of the 

 common flax be attentively examined we shall find that its parts 

 are arranged in a quinary order. Thus there are five pieces in the 

 calyx, five petals, five stamens, and five pistils, the germens being 

 united into one globose capsule of ten cells. The seed of plants of 

 this kind is composed of 2 lobes, hence they are called dicotyle- 

 dons, (Bis. twice.) As the seed of the flax is very small, a Bean or 

 Almond is more convenient for examination of the lobes, to facili- 

 tate which the seed must be first put into boiling water. Here 

 then we have an excellent illustration that dicotyledonous plants 

 observe a quinary disposition of their parts. As a knowledge of 



VOL. VII. — NO. XXI. 2 E 



