Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, Linum usitatissimum, in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climate. Textiles made from flax are known in Western countries as linen, and are traditionally used for bed sheets, underclothes, and table linen. Its oil is known as linseed oil. In addition to referring to the plant itself, the word "flax" may refer to the unspun fibers of the flax plant. The plant species is known only as a cultivated plant, and appears to have been domesticated just once from the wild species Linum bienne, called pale flax. The plants called "flax" in New Zealand are, by contrast, members of the genus Phormium.
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linum (flax) is a genus of approximately 200 species in the flowering plant family Linaceae. They are native to temperate and subtropical regions of the world. The genus includes the common flax, the bast fibre of which is used to produce linen and the seeds to produce linseed oil.
Linum bienne, the pale or narrowleaf flax, is a flowering plant in the genus Linum, native to the Mediterranean region and western Europe, north to England and Ireland.
Mermaids is a 1990 American family comedy-drama film directed by Richard Benjamin, and starring Cher, Bob Hoskins, Winona Ryder, Michael Schoeffling, and Christina Ricci in her film debut. Based on Patty Dann's 1986 novel of the same name, and set in the early 1960s, its plot follows a neurotic teenage girl who moves with her wayward mother and young sister to a small town in Massachusetts.
Irish linen is the brand name given to linen produced in Ireland. Linen is cloth woven from, or yarn spun from the flax fibre, which was grown in Ireland for many years before advanced agricultural methods and more suitable climate led to the concentration of quality flax cultivation in northern Europe. Since about the 1950s to 1960s the flax fibre for Irish linen yarn has been, almost exclusively, imported from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is bought by spinners who produce yarn and this, in turn, is sold to weavers who produce fabric. Irish linen spinning has now virtually ceased, yarns being imported from places such as the Eastern part of the European Union and China.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is an American casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United States.
Linum lewisii is a perennial plant in the family Linaceae, native to western North America from Alaska south to Baja California, and from the Pacific Coast east to the Mississippi River. It grows on ridges and dry slopes, from sea level in the north up to 11,000 ft (3,400 m) in the Sierra Nevada.
Kenneth Flax is a retired American Olympic hammer thrower, whose personal best throw is 80.02 metres, achieved in May 1988 in Modesto.
Hesperolinon congestum, or Marin dwarf flax, is an annual herb, which is known to occur only in San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin County, California, United States. This plant occurs chiefly on serpentine soils, especially in dry native bunch grasses, chaparral or other grasslands at elevations less than 200 meters. The flowers are congested at the tips of the dichotomously branching stems. H. congestum is in flower between April and July. The outlook for this plant depends on survival of only about twenty small colonies, most of which are not actively managed for protection, even though the species is federally and state-listed as threatened. This species is also less commonly known as Marin western flax.
Allium amplectens, the narrowleaf onion, is a species of onion plant. It is native to the West coast of the USA, in Oregon, Washington State and California, also British Columbia in Canada. It grows in woods and especially in clay and serpentine soils.
Hesperolinon adenophyllum is a rare species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common names glandular dwarf flax and glandular western flax. It is endemic to California, where most known occurrences have been recorded in Lake and Mendocino Counties. It is generally found in chaparral ecosystems on serpentine soils. This is an annual herb growing erect to heights between 10 and 50 centimeters. Its narrow, lance-shaped leaves are lined with rows of teeth with large knobby glandular points. The flower has small sepals speckled with glandular hairs and five thin yellow petals. The stamens protrude from the face of the flower and hold large yellow anthers.
Hesperolinon breweri is a rare species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common names Brewer's dwarf flax and Brewer's western flax. It is endemic to California, where it is known from three counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is found in chaparral ecosystems, often on serpentine soils. This is an annual herb growing erect to a maximum height near centimeters. Its narrow, linear leaves are greenish to purplish in color. It produces dense inflorescences of flowers with glandular sepals and five bright yellow petals. The protruding stamens hold large orange-yellow anthers. This uncommon California endemic is threatened by development of its habitat but its current status is not known.
Hesperolinon drymarioides is a rare species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common names drymary dwarf flax and drymaria-like western flax; it is named for its resemblance to genus Drymaria. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the central inland North Coast Range. Most of the few known occurrences have been noted in Lake County. It is a plant of serpentine soils in chaparral and woodland ecosystems. This is a small annual herb growing a thin branching brown stem low to the ground or erect to about 20 centimeters in height. Leaves appear in whorls of four on the lower part of the stem and are dark reddish green with plentiful glandular hairs. Its flowers have light pink-veined white petals in a corolla about a centimeter across. Protruding stamens hold large yellow or purplish-white anthers.
Hesperolinon micranthum is a species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common name smallflower dwarf flax. It is native to the west coast of North America from Oregon to Baja California. It may occur in Nevada. It grows in a number of open habitats, often on serpentine soils. This is a spindly annual herb producing a very thin stem 5 to 20 centimeters in height. Its small, sparse leaves are linear in shape. The tiny flowers have five white or pink-veined white petals each less than four millimeters long and protruding stamens with white or purple anthers.
Phormium tenax is an evergreen perennial plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island that is an important fibre plant and a popular ornamental plant. The plant grows as a clump of long, straplike leaves, up to two metres long, from which arises a much taller flowering shoot, with dramatic yellow or red flowers.
John Stuart Yeates, also known as Jack Yeates, was a New Zealand academic and botanist. The founding head of Agricultural Botany at Massey Agricultural College, he was also an accomplished breeder of azaleas, rhododendrons and lilies.
Hesperolinon disjunctum is a species of flowering plant in the flax family known by the common name Coast Range dwarf flax. It is endemic to California, where it has a disjunct distribution along the North and Central Coast Ranges.
Monardella linoides is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name flaxleaf monardella.
Phormium is a genus of two plant species in the family Asphodelaceae. One species is endemic to New Zealand and the other is native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. The two species are widely known in New Zealand as flax or their Māori names wharariki and harakeke respectively, and elsewhere as New Zealand flax or flax lily, but they are not closely related to the Northern Hemisphere's flax, which is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and has been used by humans since 30,000 B.C.
