Linum puberulum
Linum grandiflorum
desert flax, hairy flax, plains flax
flowering flax, flowering or red or scarlet or crimson flax, red flax, scarlet flax
ascending, branched at base, herbaceous throughout.
ascending or sometimes decumbent at base, usually freely branched.
alternate or sometimes proximal leaves opposite, appressed-ascending;
stipular glands present (conspicuous);
blade linear, 7–20 × 0.6–1.5 mm, margins entire or distal leaves sparsely glandular-toothed, ciliate, apex acute; 1-nerved.
blade linear to lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 10–30 × 2–3(–7) mm.
open panicles.
cymes, few-flowered.
5–10 mm.
10–25 mm.
sepals falling tardily, lanceolate, 4–7 mm, margins of inner sepals scarious, glandular-toothed, apex acute to acuminate, puberulent at least on midrib;
outer 3-nerved;
petals yellowish orange to salmon, with maroon or reddish base, obcordate or broadly obovate, 9–15 mm;
stamens 4–7 mm;
anthers 0.6–1.4 mm;
staminodia absent;
styles connate nearly to apex, 3–7 mm;
stigmas dark, capitate.
heterostylous;
sepals lanceolate, 7–11 mm, margins glabrous, apex acuminate;
petals bright red to maroon, fading to purple, broadly obovate, 15–30 mm;
stamens 8–10 mm;
anthers 5 mm;
staminodia not seen;
styles connate proximal 1/2, 4.5 mm (short-styled) or 8–10 mm (long-styled);
stigmas clavate.
ovoid-ellipsoid, 3.5–4 × 2.5–5 mm, apex obtuse, dehiscing into 5, 2-seeded segments, segments persistent on plant, false septa complete, proximal margin not terminating in loose fringe, distal part cartilaginous, margins ciliate.
ovoid-globose, 6–7 mm diam., apex apiculate, segments persistent on plant, margins not seen.
1.5–3 × 0.9–1.3 mm.
2–3 × 0.5–1 mm.
= 30.
= 16.
Linum puberulum
Linum grandiflorum
Corollas of Linum puberulum are broadly bowl-shaped. The filaments and styles are pale pink; the stigmas are dark maroon. The pollen is bright yellow; on herbarium specimens, the anthers are golden yellow to orangish yellow, drying darker. In some flowers of L. puberulum, the styles seem to be eccentric. C. M. Rogers (1968) noted that L. puberulum is the only hairy species of Linum in western North America with united styles; its gray indument and complete false septa differentiate it from L. vernale, which is glabrous and has incomplete false septa. Linum puberulum is fairly common in the Rocky Mountain foothills and high plains; it occurs in the mountains in the eastern Mojave Desert.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Linum grandiflorum occasionally escapes from gardens and persists along roadsides and trails. This showy garden plant has blue anthers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
