Linum trigynum L.
yellow flax
Slender annual herb up to 40 cm high. Stems glabrous, simple to much-branched at base. Stem lvs always alternate, glabrous, narrowly elliptic-obovate to linear, usually narrow-obovate at base of stem, acuminate, 1-veined, entire, (1)-3-15-(20) mm long; lvs subtending infl.-branches single, lanceolate, < stem lvs. Infl. of few to numerous fls in a diffuse compound dichasium; sepals narrow-ovate, long-acuminate, often sparsely glandular, ciliate, 3-4 mm long, sometimes ± = but usually > capsule; petals yellow, somewhat > to almost 2× as long as sepals, 3.5-6 mm long; styles free ± to base. Capsule glabrous, subglobose, dehiscent, 2-2.5 mm diam.; seeds ± elliptic, shiny light brown, c. 1 mm long.
N.: common N. of the Waikato, occasional in Gisborne Province, Hawke's Bay, and Wellington; S.: coastal Nelson, Marlborough Sounds, Dunedin; K.
Mediterranean, Asia Minor, N. Iran 1883
Coastal sands and cliffs, waste places.
FL Sep-Jul.
Yellow flax is distinguished from all other N.Z. Linum spp. by the yellow fls. It has been previously known in N.Z. as L. gallicum.
