Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers. 
19 
Natural Order 
LINACEEE Tab. 16. 
D iagnosis.— Usually herbs (or shrubs), with alternate exstipulate leaves. 
Flowers regular. Sepals and petals each 5, distinct. Stamens hypogynous, 
definite. Ovary 3-5-celled. Fruit separating into cocci, without a central 
axis. 
Distribution. —A small Natural Order widely dispersed throughout the Temperate and Tropical 
zones in both hemispheres. More than half of the species belong to the genus Flax (Linum ), which 
is chiefly temperate and subtropical in distribution. 
Number of British Genera, 2 ; Species. 4. 
Leaves opposite in Allseed (Racliola). 
Sepals 4; 3-lobed, united below, and Petals 4 in Allseed. 
Stamens usually shortly monadelphous ; in Flax, with alternating staminodes. 
Ovary spuriously 10-celled in Flax, owing to the inflection of the dorsal suture of each carpel. 
USES, &c.—Characterised by a tenacious liber, for the sake of which (as linen) Flax (Linum usitatissimum) is 
largely cultivated in Northern Europe. The seeds (Linseed) of the same species afford a valuable oil, and the coat 
of the seed abounds in mucilage. The refuse of the seeds is compressed into “ oil-cake,” used to feed cattle. 
Several species of Flax with blue yellow or crimson, but fugacious flowers, are frequent border-plants in our gardens. 
