52 
LINUM TRIGYNUM. 
In a communication which we received from Mr. Iler email, while gardener to 
R, Hall, Esq., accompanying the drawing of this plant, he appears to consider it 
the Turnera elegans , of Otto, and also that it is a South American species; but it 
is obviously identical with the L. trigynum figured in the Botanical Magazine, 
t. 1100, where it is distinctly stated to be an East Indian plant ; and as we hap- 
pened to possess specimens of it in full flower at Chatsworth at the time the draw- 
ing was sent, which were introduced from the East Indies by Mr. Gibson, his 
grace the Duke of Devonshire's collector, the fact of its being a native of the East 
Indies is placed beyond all doubt ; and though some eminent botanists have been 
led to question whether this plant is really a species of Linum , it has never, we 
believe, been separated from that genus. 
The generic name is derived from the Celtic word Llin , signifying a thread ; 
most probably in allusion to the well-known useful purposes to which some of the 
species are applied. 
The specific name is peculiar to this plant, on account of its flowers being fur- 
nished with three distinct styles. 
