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{{SPlantbox
|genus=Linaria
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Linaria (linum, flax, which the lvs. of some species resemble). Scrophulariaceae. Low herbs, sometimes subshrubs, several species cultivated for the oddly irregular flowers and others for the festooning foliage.
Annual, biennial, perennial: lvs. alternate, or sometimes subverticillate, in the erect-growing species mostly narrow and entire: fls. solitary in the axils, or in terminal racemes, yellow, white, blue or purple; corolla personate or grinning, 2-lipped, usually 1- spurred at the base (in rare or so-called peloria states 5-spurred); stamens 4, ascending in 2 pairs, slender; style 1: fr. a dry caps., opening by slits or pores near the summit, many-seeded.—Widely distributed, mostly in temperate parts of the northern hemisphere, of more than 100 species and with many hybrids. Occasionally the fls. of the common toad flax (Linaria vulgaris) are regular. When Linnaeus discovered this form, he took the plant to be of another kind and used for it the genus Peloria. This word Peloria is now used generically for the regular state of any normally irregular fl. Such monstrosities occur now and then, particularly in the Scrophulariaceae.
In America, linarias are little known as garden plants, although they are worthy of greater attention. They are of two general classes,—the hardy perennials (sometimes evergreen) and the annuals. The perennials are propagated by seeds and by division, usually the latter. All the species are of easiest culture in any ordinary soil and exposure, and are largely able to shift for themselves when once established. The annuals may be started indoors; or in warm situations they may be sown where the plants are to stand. Some of the trailing and cespitose species are good for rock-gardens.
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