Linum puberulum
Linum pratense
desert flax, hairy flax, plains flax
blue flax, meadow flax, Norton's flax
ascending, branched at base, herbaceous throughout.
± spreading or ascending, or branches from base prostrate.
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 linear-oblanceolate, 8–20 × 0.7–2.3 mm.
open panicles.
open panicles or racemes.
5–10 mm.
8–25 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.
homostylous;
sepals ovate, 3–5 mm, margins glabrous, apex acute;
petals usually blue, rarely white, obovate, 5–14 mm;
stamens 3–5 mm;
anthers 0.4–1.3 mm;
staminodia present;
styles distinct, 1–3 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 ovate to subglobose, 4–6 mm diam., apex obtuse, segments persistent on plant, margins ciliate.
1.5–3 × 0.9–1.3 mm.
3–5 × 1.2–1.6 mm.
= 30.
= 18.
Linum puberulum
Linum pratense
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.)
In a study of pollination in Linum pratense, G. E. Uno (1984) observed that petals dropped soon after anthesis and the persistent sepals quickly moved inward, pressing the dehiscing anthers against the receptive stigmas. Small bees and flies were seen to visit flowers even after the petals fell. Uno noted sepals closing in both L. lewisii and L. rigidum, but in these species the stamens tend to be somewhat shorter than the styles so self-pollination was less likely.
C. M. Rogers (1984) wrote that some plants of Linum pratense intergrade with L. lewisii in areas where their ranges overlap; however, in most of its range, L. pratense is the only blue-flowered Linum, and can be distinguished from the occasional plant of L. bienne or L. usitatissimum by its lack of cilia on the inner sepals and its capitate stigmas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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