Flax - Linum usitatissimum
Low to medium hairless plant. Leaves linear lanceolate 1 to 3 veined, 1.5 to 3 mm wide. Flowers pale blue, borne on solitary stems.
Linum perenne and Linum bienne are rarely recorded in VC55; both have blue flowers. For other differences see Stace (4th edn.)
Photograph of whole plant
Various, often as a casual on roadside verges.
June to August.
Annual - It is a casual. It was grown as a crop for linen and linseed. Most plants probably come from crop spillage or from bird seed.
Scattered records throughout England, though never numerous or common.
It is an uncommon casual in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads.
 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 4902 9178 (taken 2.7.2006)..JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
02 July 2006
Graham Calow
Main Street, Cosby
29 July 2016
Graham Calow
Frolesworth
12 July 2012
Graham Calow
Stockhill Farm, near Broughton Astley
09 August 2017
Graham Calow
Main Street, Cosby
29 July 2016
 Old Fosse Sapcote SP 4902 9178 (taken 2.7.2006)..JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Cultivated Flax, Linseed, Flax
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Malpighiales
- Family:
- Linaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 16
- First record:
- 11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
- Last record:
- 31/10/2022 (Nicholls, David)
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% of records within its species group
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Graham Calow
Main Street, Cosby
29 July 2016
