flax; a genus of the pentagynia order, belonging to the pentandra clas of plants.

Species. 1. The usitatissimum, or common annual flax, hath a taper fibrous root; upright, slender, unbranched stalks, two feet and a half high; garnished with narrow, spear-shaped, alternate grey-coloured leaves; and the stalks divided into footstalks at top, terminated by small blue crenated flowers in June and July; succeeded by large round capsules of ten cells, containing each one seed. 2. The perennial Siberian flax, hath a fibrous perennial root, sending up several upright, strong, annual stalks, branching four or five feet high; garnished with small, narrow, spear-shaped, alternate leaves of a dark-green colour; and terminated by umbellate clusters of large blue flowers in June, succeeded by seeds in autumn. There are 20 other species of linum, but these are the most remarkable.

Culture. The first species is cultivated in the fields according to the directions given under the article FLAX. The second sort is raised from seed in a bed or border of common garden-earth, in shallow drills six inches asunder; and when the plants are two or three inches high, thin them to the same distance; and in autumn plant them out where they are wanted.

Uses. The first species may justly be looked upon as one of the most valuable of the whole vegetable kingdom; as from the bark of its stalks is manufactured the lint or flax for making all sorts of linen-cloth; from the rags of the linen is made paper; and from the seeds is expressed the lintseed oil so useful in painting and other trades. The seeds themselves are esteemed an excellent emollient and anodyne: they are used externally in cataplasms, to affix the pain of inflamed tumours: internally, a slight infusion of linseed, by way of tea, is recommended in coughs as an excellent pectoral, and of great service in pleuritis, nephritic complaints, and suppressions of urine.