Leaves simple; sepals usually 5, free or united at base; petals usually 5, soon falling; stamens 5, united at base; styles 3-5, thread-like; capsules 3-5-celled.
Blue Prairie Flax (Linum lewisii) has lovely sky-blue flowers, 1-1½ in. across. The petals are veined with purple and drop off in the heat of the day or upon being disturbed. This flax is a slender, branched plant with a perennial root. It is very abundant on the prairies in the vicinity of Ft. Worth and Dallas, blooming there in May, and ranges to Arizona and Southern Canada. It may grow 1-2 ft. high, but in Texas it is often only about 8 in. high.
This flax is very much like the European perennial flax (Linum perenne) and the cultivated flax (Linum usitatissimum), from which flax fiber is obtained. “Linum” is the ancient Latin name for the flax plants. Many of them are showy plants of horticultural importance; for even though the flowers last only a few hours, the plants bear a profusion of blooms. They are valuable for Texas gardens, as they do best in sunny places. Flaxes may often be identified by the dropping off of the petals.
YELLOW PRAIRIE FLAX
Yellow Prairie Flax (Linum sulcatum) is a leafy, much-branched plant, 8-16 in. tall, with large yellow petals, orange-red and veined at the base. The leaves are narrow, about 1 inch long. The flaxes have 5 styles, sometimes united, as in this plant, and sometimes separate, but often remaining on the capsule until the seeds are shed.
The yellow flaxes are sometimes separated from the blue-flowered ones and called Cathartolinum. There are many of them in the state, most of them so closely related that only an expert can distinguish them. They bloom from March until June. In the southern part the commonest one is the dwarf flax (Linum multicaule), which has its stems densely covered with short leaves. Linum rigidum is a large-flowered flax with stiff stems common on prairies from Texas to Southern Canada. It has been reported as poisonous to sheep in the Pecos Valley.
WOOD-SORREL FAMILY (Oxalidaceae)
DRUMMOND’S WOOD-SORREL