Linaceae

Flax Family

Annual or perennial, mostly slender upright herbs or occasionally subshrubs. Leaves alternate or occasionally opposite, simple, entire or toothed, stalkless; stipules small or absent. Flowers regular, bisexual. Sepals usually 5, free or united at the base. Petals mostly 5, free,with a long base and overlapping. Stamens usually 5, sometimes alternating with small sterile stamens, united at the base into a short tube. Ovary superior, of 2-5 carpels and 4-10 chambers, each chamber with 1 axile ovule. Styles 2-5, free or united. Fruit a roundish capsule or occasionally a drupe.

Reinwardtia is a shrubby genus that has flowers with mostly 3-4 styles. R. indica Dumort, Yellow Flax, from India and China is sometimes cultivated; 'Gold Dollar' is listed. Syn. R. trigyna (Roxb.) Planch.

12 genera and about 290 species, cosmopolitan and mostly temperate with a centre of distribution in the Mediterranean. Australia has 3 genera and 8 species from all states.

Linum usitatissimum is the source of flax and linseed oil.

Mostly herbs with regular flowers with free petals; ovary superior, of 2-5 carpels.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Linaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Rosanae
order      Malpighiales
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
genus        Linum L.