Spring Flora of Oklahoma 
85 
Flowers yellow; stigmas capitate; sepals, at least the 
inner ones, glandular on the margins. 
II. Cathartolinum. 
I. LINUM (Touru.) L. 
Annual or perennial herbs, with alternate or opposite 
leaves. Leaves sessile. Inflorescence axillary or terminal. 
Stipules none. Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, blue, red 
or rarely white, falling early. Stamens 5, monodelphous. 
Ovary 5-celled. Capsule 5-10-valved. 
Annual; capsule about as long as the calyx; introduced. 
1. L. usitatissimum. 
Perennial; capsule much exceeding the calyx; natural¬ 
ized. 2. L. Lewisii. 
1. Linum usitatissimum L. Flax. Lint-bells. Annual, erect, 
12'-20' high; glabrous. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved, lanceolate, 6"-18" 
long. Flowers in terminal, leafy, cymose panicles. Flowers blue, 
6"-8" broad, twice the length of the sepals. Capsule ovoid-conic, 3"-4" 
long, indehiscent. 
Waste places and ballast. April-July. 
2. Linum Lewisii Pursh. Lewis Wild Flax. Perennial by a 
woody root, 12'-24' high, glabrous. Leaves crowded, oblong, or 
linear, 3"-2G" long, 3-5-nerved. Flowery blue, 12"-18" broad. Cap¬ 
sule broadly ovoid, 2-3 times as long as the calyx, dehiscent. 
Prairies. Miay-July. 
II. CATHARTOLINUM Reichb 
Annual or short-lived perennial herbs, with slender, 
angled stems and small, sessile leaves. Flowers yellow, 
with persistent sepals, and caducous petals. Sepals acute, 
with fine gland-tipped teeth along the margins of at least 
some of them. Capsule ovoid to spherical, the partitions 
mostly complete. 
Outer sepals slightly exceeding the capsule; false parti¬ 
tions of the capsule slightly thickened. 1. C. rigidum. 
Outer sepals greatly exceeding the capsule; false septa 
of the capsule thickened for about one-half their width. 
2. C. Berlandieri. 
