Wild Blue Flax Liaum perenne var lewisii
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Wild Blue Flax Liaum perenne var lewisii
Species Paper by Lois Wythe |
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Wild cousin of
the commercially important Linum usitatissimum, our native
blue flax is beloved of the bees and butterflies, wild flower gardeners,
and hikers who happen upon a patch of this slender, graceful plant with
its lovely pale blue flowers. It also charmed Captain Meriwether Lewis
when he came upon it in his exploration of the north Idaho territory —
and it is his name which distinguishes our native blue flax. The lovely blue
flowers last for only a day, but are so quickly replaced with new
blossoms that the plant appears to be continually in bloom most of the
summer, to be followed by the rounded capsules which split to release
the familiar black seeds. The photocopy above, made in late
September, shows the single erect stem, branching toward the top, with
its hanging seed capsules, some of which have already opened.
The earlier delicate blue flowers, about one and one half inches across,
have five petals, delicately striped and minutely scalloped on the
edges. Leaves are alternate, without stalks, pale green, and spearhead
shaped. The habitat is
described in PLANTS OF SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA AND THE INLAND
NORTHWEST as "scattered and frequent at low to (less commonly) mid
elevations throughout the dry climates of the region, in dry grasslands,
sagebrush steppes, and open ponderosa pine and Douglas fir
forests." It is frequently seen along railroad tracks. Linum is
from the Greek, meaning a thread or rope. The Flax
family has a long, long history. Records reveal that in ancient Undoubtedly
these ancients referred to Linum usitatissimum which is the flax of
commerce to this day and not to the Linum perenne to which Meriwether
Lewis' name was appended, and it is this latter variety that we have
planted at the Arboretum. However, the colonists would have been very
familiar with the useful Flax and probably brought plants with them for
food and cloth and perhaps even with commerce in mind.
It was cultivated as an annual crop. While we cannot call the L.
usitatissimum truly "native", the constituents and uses of
both are the same—providing food and medicine for humans and animals,
and fibers which can be spun into linen thread. Who has not used linseed
oil as a drying agent in paints and varnishes, car wax and polishes of
various kinds? An element of
this oil is even used in malting oilcloth and linoleum. Leftovers in
flaxseed oil are made into a fattening agent for cattle. While
the food and medicinal uses of flax have been known for thousands of
years, it has only been recently that the empirical evidence has been
substantiated through clinical tests and scientific studies throughout
the world. The powerful
benefits of this reasonably priced food and medicine are finally being
given their due and are being hailed in newspaper articles, TV
productions, books and lectures and have moved well out of alternate
therapies and into the mainstream of nutrition and medicine, even to
being hailed as a defense against cancer. In addition, their culinary
virtues are being revealed by the best of bakers and cooks, and wondrous
recipes are being presented to us, using both whole and ground flax
seeds, and the oil. Flaxseed oil is the highest single source for the valuable omega-3 fatty acid — 50 to 60 per cent. The oil spoils rapidly, particularly when exposed to heat, and should always be purchased in small quantities and with a label which indicates the product was cold-pressed, and gives the date. The oil should be consumed within three weeks; hence the small quantities. For more information about flax, and particularly for the exceptional recipes (with color photos) which it contains, may I recommend the small booklet by Siegfried Gursche, FANTASTIC FLAX, published by Alive Books of Vancouver, Canada, for $9.95. (I found my copy at Truby's Healthfood Store in Sandpoint.) The medicinal
uses of Flax have been known for centuries and lie primarily in the
seeds. (Note that immature seed pods are poisonous.) The seeds are said
to contain about 40% fixed oil, mucilage, wax, tannin, gum and protein.
The crushed seeds, known as linseed meal, are made into a useful
poultice, especially if combined with mustard, for abscesses, ulcers,
and deep inflammations. Some herbalists add lobelia seeds for treating
boils. Linseed oil is a frequent ingredient in cough medicines. Tea made
of about an ounce of seed to a pint of boiling water and taken with
lemon juice and a little honey is often recommended for colds and
coughs. Linseed is a well-known remedy for constipation. A teaspoon of
seeds should always be followed by up to two glasses of water which will
cause the seeds to swell and produce a gentle laxative. Many people
routinely add the seeds to breakfast cereal daily — remembering the
necessary high fluid intake. There are
many traditions associated with flax.
In magic, it protected against sorcerers, and it is said that
Bohemians believed that if children danced in the flax field, they would
become very beautiful when they were grown. For a very fine look at
medicinal and traditional uses, the discussion of flax in Maude Grieve's
A MODERN HERBAL is a-wonderful reference, now accessible in Dover's
reprint of this classic. There are many
colorful descriptions of the making of linen thread in historical
literature, but the process is much the same now as that used by the
early makers of homespun linen. The
linsey-woolsey of colonial times was not a very fine fabric, but it was
durable. Rodale's
ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLCPEDIA OF HERBS gives a clear description of the
process: "The flax
plants, which have been pulled and allowed to dry (with the seed heads
cut or combed out), are soaked in water for several weeks to rot the
woody stems around the fibers, a process called retting. When the stems
are sufficiently rotted, the plants are dried. Then a device called a
flaxbrake is used to break the stems in several places. Next a wooden
swinging knife is used to scrape or "scotch" the
broken stems, removing the woody shards of stem from the fibers. These
are passed through the teeth of a hetchel, straightening them and
pulling out all the remaining stem pieces. The resulting material
resembles a fine, fluffy horsetail. The fibers are then spun into
yarn." In the
landscape, flax is especially grown in herb and flower gardens as an
ornamental, particularly in borders, since the plant grows only a couple
of feet tall and is in bloom for a long period. L. perenne is a
perennial for only about three or four years; but since it self-seeds
prolifically, it seems much more long-lasting. L. usitatissimum is an
annual and is the farm-crop flax. |
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