View source for Linum usitatissimum

{{SPlantbox
|genus=Linum
|species=usitatissimum
|Min ht metric=cm
|Temp Metric=°F
|image=Upload.png
|image_width=240
}}
{{Inc|
Linum usitatissimum, Linn. Flax. Much cult, for linseed and for fiber, and running wild along railroads and in fields: 2-3 ft. high, very slender-branched, glabrous: lvs. small, linear or lanceolate, acute, alternate: fls. about ½ in- across, light blue, soon withering: pod large, mostly exceeding the scarious edged sepals, nearly or quite indehiscent, the septa not ciliate. L. humile, Mill., also cult, and sometimes escaped, is lower and has a dehiscent caps. with ciliate septa. It is probably only a form of the above, and it has run wild in this country. — Flax has been cult. from time immemorial, and it is unknown in an originally wild state. Some authorities consider it to be a modified form of L. perenne; others think it to be derived from L. augustifolium, Huds., an annual or perennial species with small fls., short linear lvs., and decumbent st., growing from England to W. Asia.
}}