Flax Family [Linaceae] |
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
stem
rarity
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
Despite it's paleness, your Author thinks these are not those of Pale Flax but rather one of the many differing phenotypes of Perennial Flax, where the colour and other characteristics can vary slightly from those normally found. The petals can also sometimes be white. The petal shapes are also unusual in not filling most of the gaps between petals. |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
Perennial Flax has a yellow centre. The leaves on Perennia Flax are alternate (as well as on Scarlet Flax, Pale Flax and Flax aka Cultivated Flax) - so that is not much of a clue! [The leaves are only opposite on two Linum species : Fairy Flax and Allseed(Linum radiola) (Not to be confused with Four-Leaved Allseed (Polycarpon tetraphyllum))] |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
The partially yellow tube is also visible from a side view behind and between the 5 sepal teeth. |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
The leaves on Perennial Flax can be between 1mm to 3.5mm wide (in comparison to 1.5mm to 3mm max 4mm for Cultivated Flax). [On Pale Flax the leaves are 3-veined - no veins visible here so these specimens are not Pale Flax despite the paleness of the petals] |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
The stigmas (of which there are 5?) are capitate (like the head of a pin) and either longer or shorter than the 5 anthers along with 5 staminodes (infertile stamens which are usually shorter - possibly the white ones lacking yellow pollen)
The petals, at 13-20mm long, have about the same size range as the 12-20mm of Cultivated Flax |
26th June 2014, Thrislington NNR, Durham. | Photo: © Simon Melville |
The sepals are 3.5mm to 6.5mm long on Perennial Flax. |
Easily confused with : Cultivated Flax (Linum usitatissimum)
Not to be semantically confused with : any
No relation to : The Perennial Flax in the UK is the subspecies ssp. anglicum. There exist cultivated versions for gardens, which includes one called 'Blue Sapphire'.
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Linum | perenne | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Linaceae |
Linum (Flaxes) |
Flax Family [Linaceae] |