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L I N U M perenne.
Perennial Flax.
P E N T A iV D It I A Pentagynia.
G en. C har. Calyx five-leaved. P e ta ls five. Capfule
with five valves and ten cells. Seeds folitary.
Spec. C h a r . Calyx and capfule bluntifh. Leaves
alternate, lanceolate, entire.
Syn. Linum perenne. L in n . Sp. P I . 397. Hud/. FI.
tdn. I33- With. Bot. Arr. 329. Relh. Cant. 130.
Linum fylveftre casruleum perenne ere&ius, flore &
capitulo majore, et
L in um fy lv e ft re CEeruIeum perenne p ro cum b en s ,
flore & c ap itu lo mino re . R a i l Syn. 362.
\ \ T
W E truft to the authority of Mr. Hudfon, and the above-
mentioned authors who have copied him, in making thefe two
plants of Ray’s Synopfis varieties of each other. Ray himfelf
hints that he thought them fuch ; and Hudfon afierts he ha$
gathered both from the fame root ; adding, that in the procumbent
variety the ftamina are fliorter than the ftyles, in the
erect one longer.
Linum perenne is found in the dryeft chalk foil of North-
amptonfhire, Cambridgelhire, and Norfolk. Its ftrong and
knobbed woody root produces a multitude of flender Items
about a foot long, fpreading in every direction, but more or
lefs curved upward. Its flowers appear from June to Au-
guft ; they are of a delicate texture, and very elegant blue
colour. The calyx, as Dr. Stokes obferves, is quite fmooth,
and each of its leaves marked with five ribs ; the middleman
of which is the ftrongeft.