Garden and Flowers

FLAX

The thin stems and small blue flowers of flax show up best in between other plants. Linseed is often added to blue flower mixtures, but you may also scatter it separately in bare spots in borders. The species is an important agricultural crop, providing linseed oil and flax, as well as other products.

The plants often grow over 20 in tall, and tend to bend over under the weight of the developing seeds. These are enclosed in spherical capsules which may be used as dried flowers. The small pale blue flowers, however, are the plant’s most decorative feature.
Sow the flaxseed at intervals from March until May to provide a succession of flowers that may continue from July until September.

Linum usitatissimum flax is also known as common flax which is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. This is called as Jawas/Javas or Alashi in Marathi.[1] Flax was extensively cultivated in ancient Egypt.

Flax is an erect annual plant growing to 1.2 m tall, with slender stems. The leaves are glaucous green, slender lanceolate, 20–40 mm long and 3 mm broad. The flowers are pure pale blue, 15–25 mm diameter, with five petals; they can also be bright red. The fruit is a round, dry capsule 5–9 mm diameter, containing several glossy brown seeds shaped like an apple pip, 4–7 mm long.