LINUM STRICTUM

Family and Genus:- See- LINACEAE/Sect. LINASTRUM

Common Names:- Upright yellow flax

Homotypic Synonyms:- Cathartolinum strictum, Chrysolinum strictum,

Linum gallicum subsp. strictum.

Meaning:- Linum (L) Ancient name for flax.

Strictum (L) Straight.

General description:- Herbaceous plant.

Stems:-

1) 10-45 cm, erect, branched. inconspicuously hairy below.

Leaves:-

1) 1·5-3(-5) mm wide, margins minutely serrulate, very rough, often inrolled.

Flower:-

1) Sessile or subsessile, crowded on axillary branches, overtopped by adjacent

leaves and forming a spike-like inflorescence.

2) Corolla, with 5 free petals.

3) Petals, 6-12 mm, yellow.

4) Sepals, 4-6 mm, ovate-lanceolate, long-acuminate, minutely serrulate and

glandular-ciliate.

5) Calyx, from 3-6 mm long, covered in viscous hairs.

Fruit:-

1) Capsules, 2mm in diam., with tiny a beak.

Key features:-

1) Leaf-margins rough, finely serrulate (but sometimes revolute).

2) Leaves, narrowly lanceolate, more than 1 mm wide.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Coastal habitats, dry open shrubby vegetation, open coniferous woodland,

olive groves, field margins. 0-1200 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean. Widespread

and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mid-Apr to June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton & Dimokratia Vrentzou