British Plants and Flowers – Flax

Name – The Flax family, Linaceae, grows wild in Europe and Asia. Flax, line and linseed have all been used as names for the same plant, and derive from Old English – all three have been in use for over a thousand years and relate to ancient Greek. Flaxen ‘made of flax’ is from also from Old English as in fleaxen = the colour of flax (usually with reference to hair) meaning yellowish white or white – which comes from the commonplace use from the beaten fibres rather than the flowers which are blue! In addition the famous Victorian crinoline was invented a manufacturer who created a specially stiff fabric that could be made into the requisite bell shame and who combined the Latin words crinis = meaning hair and linum = flax as the constituents of his material.

Description - Clumps of delicate foliage give way to true blue flowers in the summer.

Origin - Grow flax in full sun and rich soil, so it’s an idea to mix in compost when planting, if your soil is not rich. Flax is an easy plant to grow but in damp regions it may be a good idea to prune plants to promote good air circulation. Flax has been cultivated for more than 7,000 years in the Middle East as a source of material and for its oil. The ancient Egyptians and Romans used the seeds as food, much as we do today, but also made use of the beaten fibres to make clothing and sails – poor Egyptians were buried in flax wrappings rather than linen ones. Flax fibre is soft, lustrous and flexible. It is stronger than cotton fibre but less elastic. The best grades are used for linen fabrics such as damasks, lace and sheeting. Coarser grades are used for the manufacturing of twine and rope. Flax fibre is also a raw material for the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed banknotes and rolling paper for cigarettes. Today, linseed oil is used in the manufacture of varnish, paint, linoleum, and soap.

For decoration - Grow them in groups for the best effect.

British plant flax photograph by ms.Tea, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

bluebell, comfrey, flax, foxglove, hawthorn, heartsease, heather, herb robert, holly, hollyhock, honeysuckle, hop, hornbeam, jacobs ladder, larkspur, oak, periwinkle, rowan, silver birch, snowdrop, tansy, vipers bugloss, wild strawberry, willow, yarrow

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