Higher Taxonomy
Common Name: FLAX FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb [shrub, tree, vine]. Stem: generally erect [climbing], branched, glabrous to hairy. Leaf: cauline, alternate to opposite or whorled, simple, generally sessile, linear to obovate, entire to minutely toothed or ciliate, teeth occasionally gland-tipped; stipules small, dark-colored, spheric glands, or 0. Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, or cyme [spike]. Flower: bisexual, radial; sepals [4]5, free; petals = sepals in number, free to adherent (basally fused); stamens 5[4 or 10], alternate petals, filaments fused basally into a cup-like structure surrounding ovary base; staminodes present, alt stamens at cup rim, or 0; ovary superior, carpels 2--5, fused, styles 2--5, = carpel number, free or partly fused. Fruit: capsule, generally dehiscent [drupe in some tropical species], generally 10-seeded.
Genera In Family: 13 genera, +- 250 species: cosmopolitan, most temperate, some cultivated. Note: Hesperolinon, Sclerolinon are evolutionary lineages within Linum.
eFlora Treatment Author: Adam C. Schneider, William A. Freyman, and Joshua R. McDill
|
|
Linum
Habit: Annual, perennial herb. Leaf: generally alternate, occasionally partially opposite [whorled], +- sessile, generally glabrous; stipule glands present or 0. Inflorescence: raceme or cyme. Flower: inner 2 sepals overlapped by outer 3, all margins generally translucent, generally ciliate or toothed, glandular or not; petals 5--25 mm, generally ephemeral; staminodes 0 or 5; carpels 5, ovary chambers 10, styles free or fused, stigmas 5, >= style width. Fruit: 3--10 mm diam, generally spheric, dehiscent, generally 5 or 10 segmented. Seed: 5 or 10, lens-shaped, rounded, brown to black, generally glossy. Species In Genus: +- 180 species: temperate & subtropics, especially Eurasia and North America. Etymology: (Latin: flax) Note: Linum usitatissimum cultivated for fiber (linen) and seed for oil and food; Linum perenne, Linum grandiflorum, ornamental; some Eurasian species used in cancer treatment. Jepson eFlora Author: Adam C. Schneider, William A. Freyman, and Joshua R. McDill Reference: [Rogers 1984 North Amer Flora Ser II 12:1--56] Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Linum
Previous taxon: Hesperolinon tehamenseNext taxon: Linum bienne
| |
|
Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback
Citation for this treatment: Adam C. Schneider, William A. Freyman, and Joshua R. McDill 2017, Linum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 5, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=8860, accessed on April 16, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 16, 2024.
| |
