Linum puberulum
Linum hudsonioides
desert flax, hairy flax, plains flax
Texas flax
ascending, branched at base, herbaceous throughout.
ascending to erect, branched from base.
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.
proximalmost opposite, distal alternate, imbricate throughout, proximal leaves spreading to ascending, distal closely appressed;
stipular glands absent;
blade awl-shaped, 5–10 × 0.5–1 mm, margins entire, distalmost narrowly scarious, not ciliate, apex of proximal leaves sharp-pointed, distal with short, slender terminal awn.
open panicles.
panicles;
bracts not ciliate.
5–10 mm.
3–15 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.
sepals persistent, lanceolate to ovate, 4.5–7 mm, margins broadly scarious, entire, or sparsely delicately toothed or, in age, ± lacerate, not glandular-toothed, apex conspicuously awn-tipped;
petals yellow, with or without dark red base, obovate, 8–12 mm;
stamens 5 mm;
anthers 1–1.6 mm;
staminodia absent;
styles connate to 0.3–1.1 mm of apex, 2.7–6.3 mm;
stigmas capitate.
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.
broadly ovoid, 2.7–3.5 × 2.8–3.6 mm, apex rounded, dehiscing into 5, 2-seeded segments, segments persistent plant, false septa entirely hyaline, or with very narrow, uniform, distal cartilaginous portion, margins tomentose near apex.
1.5–3 × 0.9–1.3 mm.
2–2.7 × 1–1.2 mm.
= 30.
= 30.
Linum puberulum
Linum hudsonioides
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.)
The corollas of Linum hudsonioides are very broadly bowl-shaped to nearly rotate and yellow, sometimes with a broad wine red band near the base. The filaments and styles are yellow or dark pinkish, anthers are yellow, and stigmas are bright green to yellowish. Its stems are nearly smooth proximally, ribbed distally. Linum hudsonioides occurs mainly in west-central Texas, the trans-Pecos region of western Texas, Harding and San Miguel counties of northeastern New Mexico, and southwestern Oklahoma; it is known in Kansas from a single historic record from Sedgwick County.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
KS Wildflowers
