Linum

[L., flax.]
(Bot.) A genus of herbaceous plants including the flax (Linum usitatissimum).

A European plant genus containing linseed or flax, a member of the Linaceae family. Includes L. catharticum (purging flax), L. usitatissimum (common flax, linseed). Causes cyanide poisoning. Long-term ingestion can cause goiter.

Ly'num. Flax . Nearly 200 species of herbs, grown for ornament, except for Common Flax, which yields linseed oil and linen.

Description
Leaves generally alternate, stalkless, narrow, without marginal teeth. Flowers in generally terminal racemes or cymes, day-blooming and rather fleeting. Sepals and petals 5 each, separate. Stamens 5.

How to Grow
Quick to grow from seeds sown outdoors in early spring or, where winters are mild, in the fall. Plant in rows or clumps. The species below prefer cool weather.

Linum grandiflorum
Flowering Flax . 1-2 ft. (30-60 cm) high. Flowers to 1 in. (2.5 cm) wide, red or pink. N. Africa. Cultivar 'Caeruleum' has bluish-purple flowers; 'Coccineum', scarlet flowers. Many others are available. Hardy annual.

Linum usitatissimum
Common Flax . 3-4 ft. (90-120 cm) high. Flowers in. (13 mm) wide, usually blue, sometimes white. Europe, but often an escape in North America. Hardy annual.

The botanical name for flax.

Linum
Linum pubescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Linaceae
Genus:	Linum L.
Species
see text

Linum (flax) is a genus of approximately 200 species in the flowering plant family Linaceae, native to temperate and subtropical regions of the world. It includes the Common Flax (L. usitatissimum), the bast fibre of which is used to produce linen and the seeds to produce linseed oil.

Linum narbonense

The flowers of most species are blue or yellow, rarely red, white, or pink. There is an average of 6-10 seeds per boll.

Linum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Cabbage Moth, The Nutmeg, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Coleophora benedictella, which feeds exclusively on Linum narbonense.

Selected species

• Linum austriacum
• Linum bienne (syn. L. angustifolium) – Pale Flax
• Linum catharticum – Fairy Flax
• Linum cratericola
• Linum flavum - Golden Flax
• Linum grandiflorum – Red Flax
• Linum leoni
• Linum lewisii
• Linum medium
• Linum narbonense
• Linum perenne – Perennial Flax
• Linum puberulum – Plains Flax
• Linum pubescens
• Linum suffruticosum
• Linum tenuifolium
• Linum dolomiticum
• Linum usitatissimum – Common Flax

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Linum

• Jepson Manual treatment of the genus
• IPNI Query
• Linum lepagei type sheet from Louis-Marie Herbarium (Laval University).
• The Flax Council of Canada

This Malpighiales article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)