LINUM MEXICANUM.— MEXICAN FLAX. 
Class V. PENTANDRI A.— Order V. PENTAG YNI A. 
Natural Order, LINEJL — THE FLAX TRIBE. 
Our drawing of this rare species of Flax was made at Mr. Tate’s Nursery. It is a very pretty half-hardy 
perennial, native of woods near Santa Rosa, in Mexico, where it was found by Humboldt and Bonpland. 
Probably propagated by cuttings. 
For the following remarks upon this, and some neighbouring species, we are indebted to Mr. Bentham. 
“The coalition of the styles in this, and several other species of yellow Linums, is a character which 
appears to have been generally overlooked in the distinction of the species. It is very remarkable in the 
L. Macrcei, where the style is very long, and only slightly quinquefid at the apex: in the above L. mexi- 
canurn and in the L. africanum Linn. (L. monogynum Forst.) and L. repens Hamilt., the styles are connate 
up to about the middle of their length; and at the base only in the L. aethiopicum Thunb. (L. africanum 
Reichb. icon. exot. t. 46, non Linn.,) rigidum Pursh, virginianum Linn., and mysurense Heyne. In the L. 
gallicum Linn., aureum W. et K., setaceum Brot. (L. bicolor Schousb.,) luteolum Bieb. ; nodiflorum Linn., 
strictum Linn., corymbiferum Desf., maritimum Linn., glandulosum Mcench., quadrifolium Linn., trigynum 
Roxb., and tetragynum Colebr., the styles are entirely distinct from their base. 
In the L. glandulosum, luteolum, nodiflorum, and corymbiferum, the stigmates are not globular, as in 
most of the species of this genus, but elongated, and scarcely thicker than the styles.* 
It is particularly desirable (says the Author of the Wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom) to connect 
botanical researches with the study of astronomy, as correctives of the apprehension which the latter is 
calculated to inspire, that our affairs are beneath the consideration of the great Creator of the universe. 
There is something inexpressibly awful and overwhelming in the thought, that the hosts of stars which 
shine above us are the suns of other systems; bestowing light, heat, and vegetation, on unnumbered worlds? 
J which constantly revolve around them, calm, regular, and harmonious; peopled with myriads of intelligent 
beings, possibly endowed with like feelings as ourselves, and formed for endless progressions in perfection 
and felicity. 
These perceptions of creative power tend not a little to depress the vanity of man, and to fill the mind 
I with melancholy apprehensions; especially when we consider, that if the sun of this fair world was instantly 
I extinguished, and the planetary orbs which attend him entirely annihilated, they would be no more missed 
I than a grain of sand on the sea shore. The space which they occupy being so comparatively small, that 
“the chasm would be imperceptible to an eye that could take in the whole compass of nature, and pass 
from one end of creation to another.” 
It is scarcely possible to conceive a more humiliating thought, and the inference which arises from it 
I is consequently this, that the great Author of nature, who has such a stupendous system under his care and 
superintendency, cannot be supposed to interest himself in the concerns of a finite creature. The human 
mind has a natural dread of being overlooked in the immensity of creation: its powers are inadequate to 
the right understanding of an Omnipresent Being, who upholds all things by his almighty power. David 
himself felt the force of this apprehension, though conscious that God was ever with him. “When I con- 
I sider the heavens,” said he, “the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars, which thou hast ordained. 
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” 
An attentive consideration of the minuter works of nature has a wonderful tendency to remove the 
| melancholy impressions which such a view of things must necessarily excite. For who can observe the 
skill, beauty, and contrivance discoverable in the meanest flower, without being convinced that the Creator 
of the universe does not forget the humblest of his works. Hence it may be readily inferred, that if God 
has bestowed so much care and wisdom on an object of little worth, that he is not sparing of these in the 
concerns of reasonable beings, nor does he less regard order and fitness in the determination of their states. 
Dr. Price, in one of his “Dissertations,” has admirably observed, “That there is not any thing which has 
a much greater tendency to give relief to a mind earnestly wishing to be satisfied of a wise superintendency 
in all that befalls it, than to contemplate the curious organization of an herb or flower, and the attention 
bestowed on even its outward figure; and then to consider whether it is probable, that the Being who so 
* Botanical Register. 
