Linum

Linum
Linum pubescens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
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, and some are heterostylous. 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.

Cultivation

Several flaxes are cultivated as garden ornamentals, including the blue-flowered species Linum lewisii, L. perenne, and L. narbonense, red-flowered L. grandiflorum, and yellow-flowered L. flavum.

Selected species

• Linum austriacum
• Linum bienne (syn. L. angustifolium) – Pale Flax
• Linum campanulatum
• Linum catharticum – Fairy Flax
• Linum cratericola - Galapagos Islands Flax
• Linum flavum - Golden Flax
• Linum grandiflorum – Scarlet Flax
• Linum leoni
• Linum lewisii - Lewis' Blue Flax
• Linum marginale - Australian Native Flax
• Linum medium
• Linum narbonense - Blue Flax
• Linum perenne – Perennial Blue Flax
• Linum puberulum – Plains Flax
• Linum pubescens
• Linum suffruticosum
• Linum tenuifolium
• Linum dolomiticum
• Linum usitatissimum – Common Cultivated Flax

External links

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