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.
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.
Philadelphus lewisii —also known as Gordon's mockorange, Indian arrowwood, wild mockorange and syringa—a name that usually refers to the unrelated lilacs.—is a deciduous shrub native to western North America, from northwestern California in the Sierra Nevada, north to southern British Columbia, and east to Idaho and Montana. It was first collected by scientist and explorer Meriwether Lewis in 1806 during the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Philadelphus lewisii is named after him.
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.
Linaria vulgaris is a species of toadflax (Linaria), native from Europe to Siberia and Central Asia. It has also been introduced and is now common in North America.
Linum perenne, the perennial flax, blue flax or lint, is a flowering plant in the family Linaceae, native to Europe, primarily in the Alps and locally in England.
Blue flax is a common name of two or more species in the genus Linum (flax):
Linum catharticum, also known as purging flax, or fairy flax, is an herbaceous flowering plant in the family Linaceae, native to Great Britain, central Europe and Western Asia. It is an annual plant and blooms in July and August.
Samolus valerandi is a species of water pimpernel native to a very wide area across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Common names include seaside brookweed, brookweed, thin-leaf brookweed, water cabbage, and water rose.
Linum grandiflorum is a species of flax known by several common names, including flowering flax, red flax, scarlet flax, and crimson flax. It is native to Algeria, but it is known elsewhere in Northern Africa, Southern Europe and in several locations in North America as an introduced species. It is an annual herb producing an erect, branching stem lined with waxy, lance-shaped leaves 1 to 2 centimeters long. The inflorescence bears flowers on pedicels several centimeters long. The flower has 5 red petals each up to 3 centimeters long and stamens tipped with anthers bearing light blue pollen. It can on occasion be found as a casual well outside its normal established range; records from the British Isles, for example, are reasonably frequent but, grown as an annual, it rarely persists for more than one season.
Linum puberulum is a species of flax known by the common name plains flax. It is native to the western and midwestern United States from California to Nebraska to Texas, where it grows in dry, open habitat including desert, semi-desert, hills and low mountains. It is a downy-haired perennial herb producing an erect, branching stem lined with glandular linear leaves up to about 1 centimeter long. The inflorescence is a wide open cyme of golden yellow to yellow-orange flowers each with five petals 1 to 1.5 centimeters in length. The fruit is a capsule about 4 millimeters wide.
Linum medium, common name stiff yellow flax, is a species of Linum (flax) native to eastern North America. It is found as far west as Texas and Wisconsin, east to the Atlantic ocean, north to Ontario and Maine, and south to southern Florida. It is also found in The Bahamas.
Glandularia bipinnatifida, commonly called Dakota mock vervain, is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family (Verbenaceae).
Polygala alba, commonly called white milkwort, is a species of flowering plant in the milkwort family (Polygalaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. In the United States, its range is concentrated in the Great Plains and the Southwest. Its natural habitat is in rocky or sandy dry prairies.
Dalea multiflora, commonly called roundhead prairie clover, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family (Fabaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found in Mexico and the United States. In the U.S., it is primarily found in the Great Plains and South Central regions. Its natural habitat is in dry rocky prairies, particularly in limestone soils. It is a conservative species and can be indicative of undisturbed prairie communities.
Euphorbia missurica, commonly called prairie sandmat, or Missouri spurge, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found primarily in area of the Great Plains. Its natural habitat is in dry, often calcareous areas, including glades, bluffs, and open woodlands.
Hypericum punctatum, the spotted St. John's wort, is a perennial herb native to North America. The yellow-flowered herb occurs throughout eastern North America into southern Canada. The process of microsporogenesis carried out by this plant is prone to errors in chromosomal segregation. It has a diploid number of 14 or 16. Insects are attracted to the plant's pollen and the hypericin in the plant's leaves is toxic to mammals.
Linum strictum, commonly known as rigid flax, upright flax, and upright yellow flax, is a species of flax that has a rigid stem, from whence it derives its taxonomic name, growing to a height of 10–45 cm. The plant is endemic to the Mediterranean region, and features highly in classical Hebrew and Greek literature, owing principally to its cultivation for its plant fiber, linen, but also for its edible seeds and culinary foliage.
