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
Common Name: FLAX 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. 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. eFlora Treatment Author: Adam C. Schneider, William A. Freyman, and Joshua R. McDill Reference: [Rogers 1984 North Amer Flora Ser II 12:1--56]
Linum bienne Mill.
NATURALIZED Habit: Biennial to weak perennial herb, 6--60 cm. Stem: glabrous. Leaf: 5--25 mm, linear to lance-linear; stipule glands 0. Flower: sepals 4--5 mm, ovate to lanceolate, margins translucent, inner sepals minutely ciliate or toothed; petals 6--10 mm, light blue; styles free, generally <= 2 mm, stigmas linear to club-shaped. Fruit: 4--6 mm wide, dehiscing into 10 +- adherent segments. Seed: 2--3 mm, dark brown to black. Chromosomes: 2n=30. Ecology: Garden escape; grassland, woodland, disturbed places, especially coastal; Elevation: < 1000 m. Bioregional Distribution: NW, CaRF, n SNF, GV, CW; Distribution Outside California: native to Eurasia. Flowering Time: Mar--Jun Note: Generally considered progenitor of cultivation flax, Linum usitatissimum. Synonyms: Linum angustifolium Huds. 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) Previous taxon: Linum Next taxon: Linum grandiflorum
Citation for this treatment: Adam C. Schneider, William A. Freyman, and Joshua R. McDill 2017, Linum bienne, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 5, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=31144, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Linum bienne:
NW, CaRF, n SNF, GV, CW
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
