Linum_lewisii

<i>Linum lewisii</i>

Linum lewisii

Species of flowering plant

Linum lewisii (Linum perenne var. lewisii) (Lewis flax, blue flax or prairie flax) is a perennial plant in the family Linaceae, native to western North America.

Quick Facts Linum lewisii, Conservation status ...

Description

It is a slender herbaceous plant growing to 80 centimetres (31+1⁄2 inches) tall, with spirally arranged narrow lanceolate leaves 1–3 cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄4 in) long. The flowers are pale blue or lavender to white, often veined in darker blue, with five petals 1–1.5 cm long and in varying length styles.[2][3][4][5] The flowers open in the morning and fade, dropping their petals by noon on hot, sunny days.[6]

  • The inflorescence is a terminal open raceme.[4]
  • A lavender flower
  • The spirally arranged lanceolate leaves

Etymology

The species was named for North American explorer Meriwether Lewis.[7]

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to western North America from Alaska south to Baja California, and from the Pacific Coast east to the Mississippi River.[8] It grows on ridges and dry slopes, from sea level in the north up to 11,000 feet (3,400 metres) in the Sierra Nevada.[9][10][2]

Cultivation

Blue flax is a durable wildflower in garden conditions, never becoming overly aggressive towards other plants. Plants are easily grown from seed.[6] Blue flax grows well in lean soils without much organic matter and are healthier in well-drained soils.[11]

References

  1. [1]
    "Linum lewisii Pursh". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  2. [2]
    Norman F. Weeden (1996). A Sierra Nevada Flora (4th ed.). Wilderness Press. ISBN 9780899972046.
  3. [3]
    Klinkenberg, Brian, ed. (2014). "Linum lewisii". E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Plants of British Columbia [eflora.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  4. [4]
    Giblin, David, ed. (2015). "Linum lewisii". WTU Herbarium Image Collection. Burke Museum, University of Washington. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  5. [5]
    "Linum lewisii". Jepson eFlora: Taxon page. Jepson Herbarium; University of California, Berkeley. 2015. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  6. [6]
    Barr, Claude A. (1983). Jewels of the plains : wild flowers of the Great Plains grasslands and hills. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 18. ISBN 0-8166-1127-0.
  7. [7]
    Reiner, Ralph E. (1969). Introducing the Flowering Beauty of Glacier National Park and the Majestic High Rockies. Glacier Park, Inc. p. 98.
  8. [8]
    USDA Plant Profile: Linum lewisii
  9. [9]
    Sullivan, Steven. K. (2015). "Linum lewisii". Wildflower Search. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  10. [10]
    "Linum lewisii". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture; Natural Resources Conservation Service. 2015. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  11. [11]
    "Blue flax". Fine Gardening. The Taunton Press, Inc. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Linum lewisii.


Stub icon

This Malpighiales article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Linum_lewisii, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.