L I N U M. 
Native of the South of France, Swiflerland, Italy. It 
flowers from May to July. Cultivated by Mr. Miller in 
x 759 * 
7. Linum reflexum, or reflex-leaved flax : calyxes acu¬ 
minate ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, reflex, even ; 
filaments connate. Stem a foot high, round, woody, 
branched from the bafe. Leaves dark green, ending in a 
very (harp dagger-point. Flowers in a fort o( umbel, 
large, blue. Native of the fouth of Europe ; introduced 
in 1778 by Cafimir Goruez Ortega, M, D. Flowers in 
July. 
. 8. Linum tenuifolium, or fine-leaved flax : calyxes acu¬ 
minate; leaves linear-fetaceous, rugged backwards. Root 
perennial, wr,ody, branching. Stems afcending at the 
bafe, and then ereft, round, fmooth, annual, from fix inches 
to a foot in height, branched at top, and there lefs clofely 
fet with leaves. Flowers in a fort of panicle, peduncled ; 
calyx ciliate at the edges ; petals rofe-coloured, purple, or 
white, nearly twice as long as the calyx. Native of the 
fouth of Europe. 
9. Linum angullifolium, or narrow-leaved flax: calyx 
obfoleteiy three-nerved ; leaflets and capfule acuminate; 
leaves linear-lanceolate, three-nerved; (terns numerous, a 
little inclined. This is molt nearly allied to L. ufitatifli- 
mum in all its parts, except in having a woody perennial 
root producing many Items ; it differs alfo at firft fight in 
having fmaller and paler flowers. The leaves have three, 
fometimes five, nerves; their edges entire and fmooth. 
The preceding, with which Linnaeus confounded this, has 
a very long-pcinted calyx, with glandular ferratures, and 
leaves which have rough edges and only a central nerve. 
L. perenne is fufflciently diftinguilhable by its more ob- 
tufe five-nerved calyx, and more capitate (ligmas. Native 
of Cornwall and Devonflrire, in dry fandy paftures, efpe- 
cially near the fea ; Darlham in Suffolk; Minfter in the 
Ifle of Shepey, Beacon-hill and Deal, in Kent; by Pett, 
near Haffings. 
10. Linum Gallicum, or annual yellow flax : calyxes 
awl-Ihaped, acute; leaves linear-lanceolate ; peduncles of 
the panicle two-flowered ; flowers fubfeflile. Root annual. 
Flowers yellow; commonly five, but fometimes only 
three, piftils. Native of the fouth of France; it flowers 
in July.. 
11. Linum maritimum, or fea-flax: calyxes ovate, acute, 
awnlefs; leaves lanceolate, the lower ones oppofite. Root 
perennial; Items herbaceous, round, almoft upright, glau¬ 
cous, branched at top, a foot high or more. Leaves co¬ 
vering the whole Item and brandies, oval-oblong, Iharp- 
ilh, glaucous, feflile, upright, quite entire, half an inch 
long. Linnaeus obferves, that it is allied to the preceding. 
Native of the fouth of Europe and the Levant; cultivated 
in 1596 by Gerarde; flowers in July and Augult. 
12. Linum alpinum, or alpine flax: calyxes rounded, 
blunt; leaves linear, Iharpi(l); Items declinate. Root pe¬ 
rennial, branched. Stems herbaceous, Ample, half a foot 
or more in length, round, very leafy, procumbent or af¬ 
cending, many-flowered, and often divided. Flowers 
large; petals pale blue, three times as long as the calyx. 
Native of Auitrin, Piedmont, Dauphine, and Silefia. 
13. Linum Auftriacum, or Aultrian flax: calyxes 
rounded, blunt; leaves linear, Iharp, (traightilh. Root 
perennial, woody. Stems herbaceous, annual, from fix 
to eighteen inches long; round, fimple or divided only 
into Ihort branches at top, fometimes for the molt part 
procumbent, fometimes more upright. The whole plant 
is fmooth. The leaves vary in width. Native of Aultria 
and the Palatinate; flowers in June and July. 
14. Linum Virginianum, or Virginian flax : calyxes 
acute, alternate ; capfules awnlefs; panicle filiform ; leaves 
lanceolate, root-leaves ovate. ‘Stem filiform, a foot high. 
Native of Virginia and Pennfylvania. 
15. Linum flavum, or perennial yellow flax: calyxes 
fuhferrate-rugged, lanceolate, fubfefiile; panicle with di¬ 
chotomous branches. Root perennial, woody. Steins 
herbaceous, upright, from fix to eighteen inches high, 
763 
fmooth, rendered angular by membranes which feem to 
arife from the fldes and middle of the leaves. Flowers 
elegant, upright, on Ihort peduncles, at the end of the 
branches, and at the divifions of them; petals three times 
as long as the calyx, yellow, ftriate-veined, wide, and 
very blunt: filaments yellow, upright; five twice as long 
as the calyx with yellow anthers, and five others very 
Ihort and barren, Handing alternate with the fertile ones; 
ftyles yellow ; capfule roundilh, Iharp, brownilh. Native,, 
of Aultria; introduced by Mr. Curtis about the year 1794, 
from feeds fent him by Monf. Daval, of Orbe'in Swifler¬ 
land. The flowers open molt in a morning when the fun 
Ihines, and continue in fucceffion during June, July, and 
part of Auguft. 
16. Linum ftriftum, or upright flax: calyxes awD 
Ihaped ; leaves lanceolate, ItifF, mucronate, rugged at the 
edge. This is an annual plant, with an upright Italic 
near a foot and a half high. The feeds feldom ripen in 
England. Native of the fouth of France, Spain, and Si¬ 
cily; cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1759. 
J7- Linum fuftruticofum,or Ihrubby flax : leaves linear, 
acute, rugged ; Items fflfrruticofe. This has a Ihrubby 
Italic a foot high, fending out feveral branches. Native of 
Spain, about Aranjuez, but common in the kingdom of 
Valencia. Mr. Miller fays he had the feeds of his L. fru- 
ticofum from Ortega at Madrid. It feems to be the fame 
with the fuffrutico/um of Linnseus. According to the Kew 
Catalogue it was introduced in 1787, by Monf. Tliouin ; 
but, if Mr. Miller’s plant be the fame, he cultivated it in 
1759 - 
18. Linum arboreum, or tree-flax: leaves wedge-Ihaped 5 
Hems arborefeent. This beautiful fpecies forms, if not a 
tree, as its name imports, a Ihrub of the height of feveral 
feet. It begins to flower in March, and continues flow¬ 
ering to the clofe of fummer; but has not yet produced 
feeds in England. Native of the illand of Candia ; in¬ 
troduced in 1788, by John Sibthorp, M. D. 
19. Linum campanulatum, or bell-flax: bafe of the 
leaves dotted-glandular on both fldes. Stems fimple, a 
finger’s lengthy angular, commonly terminated by three 
large peduncled flowers. Native of the fouth of France 
and Ruflia. 
II. With oppofite leaves. 20. Linum Africanum, or 
African flax : leaves linear-lanceolate ; flowers terminat¬ 
ing, peduncled. Stem a foot high, round, with fimple 
branches. Native of Africa; introduced in 1771 by 
Monf. Richard; flowers in June and July. 
21. Linum nodiflorum, or knotted flax: floriferous 
leaves oppofite, lanceolate ; flowers alternate, fefiile ; ca¬ 
lyxes the length of the leaves. Native of Italy ; cultivated 
by Mr. Miller in 1759. 
22. Linum catharticum, or purging flax : leaves ovate- 
lanceolate ; Hem dichotomous,; corollas acute. Stems feve¬ 
ral, from three to nine inches' high. Native of moll parts 
of Europe. This fmall delicale ipecies of flax, called alfo 
in l'ome places mill-mountain, is very common through¬ 
out England in dry and hilly paftures, and flowers from 
the end of May to Auguft. Gerarde celebrates this little 
plant as a purge. His receipt is a handful of the herb 
infufed in a pint of warm white wine all night, and taken 
in the morning. Lewis prefcribes an infufion in water or 
whey of a handful of the frelh leaves, or a dram in fub- 
ftance of them dried. Dr. Withering recommends an in¬ 
fufion of two drams or more of the dried herb, as an ex¬ 
cellent purge in many obftinate rheumatifms ; and adds, 
that it frequently acts as a diuretic. 
23. Linum radiola, lealt flax, or all-feed. Stem dicho¬ 
tomous ; flowers four-ftamened, four-ftyled. Root an¬ 
nual ; Item upright, an inch high or more, very much 
branched and dichotomous, round, filiform, fmooth. 
Leaves fefiile, ovate, acuminate, quite entire, bright green, 
fmooth, a line and a half long and a line broad. Flowers 
upright, folitary, in little bundles at the ends of the 
branches, the lower ones on peduncles more than two 
lines in length ; they are fmall, and white; calyx four- 
3 leaved. 
